Control method for information apparatus and computer-readable recording medium

ABSTRACT

A control method of the present disclosure causes a computer of an information apparatus to: display a display screen representing a floor plan for one floor including rooms on the display; display device icons representing target devices within regions of the respective rooms included in the floor plan, the device icons being initially displayed at positions within the regions of the respective rooms; and output to a network a first control command, when selection of an illumination icon, representing an illumination device among the target devices, is sensed within a region of any of the rooms included in the floor plan, and when selection of any region within a room, in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed, is sensed, the first control command controlling on/off of power for an illumination device corresponding to the room in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2013/002201, filed Mar. 29, 2013, and claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional application No. 61/766,912, filed Feb. 20,2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a control method for an informationapparatus and a computer-readable recording medium.

BACKGROUND ART

Technologies for remotely monitoring or remotely controlling one or moretarget devices using one remote controller are proposed.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for remotely operating one ormore target devices from a monitor of a television set. Specifically,icons for the one or more target devices are displayed on the right sideof a monitor screen. When a desired one of the icons is selected (i), afloor plan is displayed on the left side of the monitor screen (ii).When a pointer is moved to the location of installation of a targetdevice desired to be operated in the floor plan (iii), an operationscreen for the target device selected by moving the pointer is displayedon the monitor screen (iv) (paragraphs [0138] to [0140] and FIGS. 25Aand 25B).

Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for controlling one or moretarget devices using a single remote controller. Specifically, a floorplan of each room and the condition within the room are displayed on aliquid crystal monitor of the remote controller. For example, the liquidcrystal monitor displays a illumination mark displayed in the case wherean illumination device of a certain room is turned on, a roomtemperature mark that indicates the current temperature of a certainroom, a lock mark in the shape of a hatched window displayed in the casewhere a window of a certain room is locked, a device/facility mark thatindicates the status or the like of a control target object, a mark thatindicates the amount of hot water in the case where the control targetis a bath, and so forth (paragraphs [0037] to [0041] and FIG. 6).

Patent Document 3 relates to a technology for remotely controlling andremotely monitoring open/close operation and the state of an electricbuilding material (such as a hallway door or a skylight). Specifically,a monitor screen of a personal computer displays floor plans for firstand second floors of a property, a picture of the electric buildingmaterial (such as a hallway door or a skylight) and a state display iconthat indicates the open/close state of the electric building materialare displayed at the corresponding position on the floor plans. When thestate display icon is selected, an operation screen for the selectedelectric building material is displayed in another window. The operationscreen includes an open operation button, a close operation button, anoperation monitor screen, and a button for hiding the operation screen(paragraph [0025] and FIGS. 4, 5, and 6).

Patent Document 4 discloses a user interface including a floor plan andan icon. Examples of the icon include an icon representing a receptacle,an icon representing a digital image frame, and an icon representing anillumination device (FIGS. 7 and 8B).

Patent Document 5 discloses a user interface of an illumination system.When an icon associated with a certain light source is dragged into atarget region on a screen and moved toward the center of the targetregion, the intensity of light from the corresponding light source isincreased.

However, Patent Documents 1 to 5 described above need a furtherimprovement.

-   Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.    2007-104567-   Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.    2000-138979-   Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.    2009-213107-   Patent Document 4: U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,223-   Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent No. 5128489

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one general aspect, the techniques disclosed here feature a controlmethod for an information apparatus having a display and connected to anetwork, one or more target devices being controlled over the network,the control method causing a computer of the information apparatus to:

display a display screen on the display, the display screen representinga floor plan for one floor including at least two or more rooms;

display device icons representing the one or more target devices withinregions of the respective rooms included in the floor plan representedon the display screen, the device icons being initially displayed atpositions within the regions of the respective rooms included in thefloor plan; and

output to the network a first control command, when selection of anillumination icon representing an illumination device among the one ormore target devices is sensed within a region of any of the at least twoor more rooms included in the floor plan, and selection of any regionwithin a room, in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed, issensed, the first control command controlling on/off of power for anillumination device corresponding to the room in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed.

According to the aspect described above, it is possible to embody afurther improvement. These general and specific aspects may beimplemented using a system, a method, and a computer program, and anycombination of systems, methods, and computer programs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a home controlsystem to which a home controller according to the present disclosure isapplied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing main devices to be controlled by the homecontroller according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the homecontroller, a device, and a server according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the form ofimplementation of the home controller according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen of thehome controller according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a floor plan according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the floor plan includingarrangement information for device icons as texts according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the floor plan includingarrangement information for device icons as images according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the floor plan includingarrangement information for device icons as images according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of transition between a firstfloor display state and a second floor display state of the basic screenof the home controller according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of the display state of adevice control screen of the home controller according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a device icon arrangement example of thedisplay state of the device control screen of the home controlleraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of the display state of adevice control screen of the home controller according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a device icon arrangement example of thedisplay state of the device control screen of the home controlleraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a device icon arrangement example of thedisplay state of the device control screen of the home controlleraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a device icon arrangement example of thedisplay state of the device control screen of the home controlleraccording to the present disclosure.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams showing a configuration example of thedisplay state of the device control screen of the home controlleraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of transition between the basicscreen of the home controller and the display state of the devicecontrol screen according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of transition between the secondfloor display state of the basic screen of the home controller and thedisplay state of the device control screen for the second flooraccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of transition from the displaystate of the device control screen of a certain device to the displaystate of the device control screen of another device according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of transition between thedisplay state and the hidden state of the device control screen of thehome controller according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of an animation for transitionfrom the basic screen of the home controller to the display state of thedevice control screen according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of an animation for transitionfrom the basic screen of the home controller to the display state of thedevice control screen according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device icon listdisplay screen of the home controller according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of transition between the basicscreen of the home controller and the device icon list display screenaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of transition between the deviceicon list display screen of the home controller and the display state ofthe device control screen according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of transition between the basicscreen of the home controller and the display state of the devicecontrol screen according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing how the home controller successivelytransitions among the display states of the device control screens fordifferent devices according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of display on the basic screenof devices that cannot be detected on a network according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the configuration of home informationaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the configuration of vertex informationaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the configuration of room informationaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence betweenthe vertex information and the floor plan for the first floor accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list managedby the server according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list managedby the home controller according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 36 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to acquire the home information from the server according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 37 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to detect a device on a network when the home controller isconnected to the network according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 38 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to detect a device on a network when the device is connectedto the network according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 39A is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control a device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 39B is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control a device according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to generate a control command for a device in accordance withthe content of a contact by a contacting object according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to transmit a control command according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 42 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to directly control a device according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 43 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control a device by way of the server according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 44 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to acquire the state of a device from the server according tothe present disclosure.

FIG. 45 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to directly control devices in the case where the homecontroller controls a plurality of devices with one operation accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 46 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control devices by way of the server in the case where thehome controller controls a plurality of devices with one operationaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 47 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control devices by way of the server in the case where thehome controller controls a plurality of devices with one operationaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 48 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for a casewhere a device icon is moved in the home controller according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 49 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for updatingthe device lists of the home controller and the server according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 50 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for updatingthe device lists of the home controller and the server according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 51 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for updatingthe device lists of the home controller and the server according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 52 is a diagram showing a floor plan in another pattern accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 53 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan shown in FIG. 52.

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing the display state of a device controlscreen for a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 52 is adopted.

FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating transition between the display stateof the basic screen and the display state of the device control screen.

FIG. 56 is a diagram showing the configuration of a floor plan in whichthe size of each room is varied in accordance with the actual room sizein the floor plan shown in FIG. 52.

FIG. 57 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan shown in FIG. 56.

FIG. 58 is a diagram showing the display state of a device controlscreen for a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 56 is adopted asthe floor plan.

FIG. 59 is a diagram showing a floor plan in still another patternaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 60 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan shown in FIG. 59.

FIG. 61 is a diagram showing the display state of a device controlscreen for a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 59 is adopted.

FIG. 62 is a diagram showing a floor plan displayed on a display in thecase where a user performs a pinch-out operation on a room in the floorplan shown in FIG. 59.

FIG. 63 is a diagram showing the display state of a device controlscreen in the floor plan displayed as enlarged shown in FIG. 62.

FIG. 64 is a diagram showing screen transition from the display state ofthe basic screen to the display state of the device control screen.

FIG. 65 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen whichadopts the floor plan shown in FIG. 59 and in which device icons are notdisplayed.

FIG. 66 is a diagram showing screen transition from the display state ofthe basic screen to the display state of the device control screen for acase where the basic screen in which device icons are not displayed isadopted.

FIG. 67 is a diagram showing the configuration of the home informationfor a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 52 is adopted.

FIG. 68 is a diagram showing the configuration of room information shownin FIG. 67.

FIG. 69 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence betweenthe display position in the room information shown in FIG. 67 and thefloor plan.

FIG. 70 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list managedby the server for a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 52 isadopted.

FIG. 71 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list managedby the home controller for a case where the floor plan shown in FIG. 52is adopted.

FIG. 72 is a diagram showing an example of a control screen for anillumination device displayed on the display of the home controlleraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 73 is a diagram showing an example of transition of a displayscreen on the display of the home controller between the basic screenand the control screen for the illumination device according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 74 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller between the basic screenand the control screen for the illumination device according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 75 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller between the control screenfor the illumination device for a case where the illumination device isturned on and the control screen for the illumination device for a casewhere the illumination device is turned off according to the embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 76 is a diagram collectively showing an example of transition ofthe display screen on the display of the home controller among the basicscreen, the control screen for the illumination device for a case wherethe illumination device is turned on, and the control screen for theillumination device for a case where the illumination device is turnedoff according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 77 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay in an example of light quantity increase control for theillumination device according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 78 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay in another example of the light quantity increase control forthe illumination device according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 79 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay in an example of light quantity decrease control for theillumination device according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 80 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay in another example of the light quantity decrease control forthe illumination device according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 81 is a diagram showing another example of the control screen forthe illumination device displayed on the display of the home controlleraccording to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 82 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller between the basic screenand the control screen for the illumination device according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 83 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displaystate of the control screen for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay along with on/off control for the illumination device accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 84 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller for a case where the deviceicon for one illumination device is commonly used to controlillumination devices in plural rooms according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 85 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller for a case where the deviceicon for the one illumination device is commonly used to control theillumination devices in the plurality of rooms according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 86 is a diagram showing another example of the arrangement of thedevice icon for the illumination device used in common according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 87 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayed onthe display of the home controller according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 88 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller made through on/off controlfor the illumination device performed using the device icon for theillumination device in a staircase region on the first floor accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 89 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller made through on/off controlfor the illumination device performed using the device icon for theillumination device in a staircase region on the second floor accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 90 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller between the display stateof the first floor of the basic screen and the display state of thecontrol screen for the illumination device on the first floor accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 91 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller made through on/off controlfor the illumination device performed using an enlarged control screenfor the illumination device according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 92 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display of the home controller made through light quantitycontrol for the illumination device performed using an enlarged controlscreen for the illumination device according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 93A is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control the illumination device according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 93B is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control the illumination device according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 94 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to generate a control command for the illumination device inaccordance with the content of a contact of a contacting objectaccording to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 95 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to directly control illumination devices in the case wherethe home controller controls plural illumination devices with oneoperation according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 96 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control illumination devices by way of the server in thecase where the home controller controls plural illumination devices withone operation according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 97 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller to control illumination devices by way of the server in thecase where the home controller controls plural illumination devices withone operation according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 98 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayed onthe display of the home controller in the case where the floor plandescribed with reference to FIG. 52 is used according to the embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 99 is a diagram showing an example of the control screen for theillumination device displayed on the display in the case where thedevice icon for the illumination device is selected on the basic screenshown in FIG. 98 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 100 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayedon the display of the home controller in the case where the floor plandescribed with reference to FIG. 56 is used according to the embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 101 is a diagram showing an example of the control screen for theillumination device displayed on the display in the case where thedevice icon for the illumination device is selected on the basic screenshown in FIG. 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 102 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayedon the display of the home controller in the case where the floor plandescribed with reference to FIG. 59 is used according to the embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 103 is a diagram showing an example of the control screen for theillumination device displayed on the display in the case where thedevice icon for the illumination device is selected on the basic screenshown in FIG. 102 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 104 is a diagram showing an example in which the device icon forthe illumination device used in common is disposed outside the displayregion of the floor plan according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(Story Before Inventing Aspect According to Present Disclosure)

First, the point of view of an aspect according to the presentdisclosure will be described.

In Patent Document 1 described above, icons for one or more targetdevices are displayed on the right side of a monitor screen, and a floorplan is displayed on the left side of the monitor screen. That is, theicons for the one or more target devices and the floor plan aredisplayed separately from each other, and the icons for the one or moretarget devices are not movable. Therefore, the location of installationof a target device desired to be operated in the floor plan isdesignated by moving a pointer. Then, an operation screen is displayed.

In Patent Document 1 described above, because of the configurationdescribed above, the number of operation steps to be taken to operate adesired target device is large, from (i) to (iv) described above.Therefore, when one or more target devices are remotely monitored orremotely controlled using one remote controller, the operation steps (i)to (iv) described above are required to operate each target device,which complicates operation. This requires a larger number of processsteps to be taken by a portable information terminal before a desiredtarget device among the one or more target devices is operated simplybecause remote controllers for the one or more target devices areintegrated into one, which requires a larger number of processoperations to be performed by a user.

Patent Document 2 described above describes only displaying the state ofeach target device, and does not describe at all remotely controllingoperation of each target device. Therefore, although the one or moretarget devices can be remotely monitored using one remote controller,the one or more target devices cannot be controlled.

In Patent Document 3 described above, open/close operation and the stateof an electric building material (such as a hallway door or a skylight)are remotely controlled and remotely monitored using a personalcomputer. Also in Patent Document 3 described above, however, anoperation is performed with an operation screen displayed. Thus, thenumber of steps to be taken to operate a desired target device isaccordingly increased. Therefore, in remotely monitoring or remotelycontrolling one or more target devices using one remote controller, alarger number of process steps are required to be taken by a portableinformation terminal before the desired target device is operated,compared to a case where individual remote controllers are used for theone or more target devices, because remote controllers for the one ormore target devices are integrated into one, which requires a largernumber of process operations to be performed by a user.

In Patent Document 4 described above, as in Patent Document 3 describedabove, an operation screen for operating and confirming the state of anillumination device is separately provided (FIG. 8B). Thus, the numberof steps to be taken to operate a desired target device is increasedbecause of operations for causing the operation screen to display andperforming an operation on the operation screen. Therefore, in remotelymonitoring or remotely controlling one or more target devices using oneremote controller, a larger number of process steps are required to betaken by a portable information terminal before the desired targetdevice is operated, compared to a case where individual remotecontrollers are used for the one or more target devices, because remotecontrollers for the one or more target devices are integrated into one,which requires a larger number of process operations to be performed bya user.

Patent Document 5 described above only considers controlling anillumination device for each room such as a bedroom, and does notconsider controlling illumination devices used on one floor includingtwo or more rooms. For example, an illumination device in a roomcorresponding to a first target region may be turned on by moving anicon from the outside of the first target region to the inside of thefirst target region. However, when an icon is moved from the firsttarget region to a second target region that is adjacent to the firsttarget region, the icon is moved into the second target region.Therefore, although an illumination device in a room corresponding tothe second target region is turned on, an illumination device in a roomcorresponding to the first target region is turned off since the icon ismoved out of the first target region, which is a problem. In PatentDocument 5 described above, in addition, the icon is initiallypositioned outside the target region, and moved into the target regionto dim the illumination device. This makes it difficult to discriminateto which room the icon corresponds in the case where Patent Document 5is applied to a display screen representing a floor plan for one floorincluding two or more rooms. This also complicates an operation ofmoving the icon itself into each of the two or more target regions. Theoperation is particularly complicated in the case where two rooms forwhich it is desired to turn on the illumination device are not adjacentto but away from each other.

Based on the considerations described above, the inventors haveconceived various aspects of the present disclosure to be describedbelow.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a control method for aninformation apparatus having a display and connected to a network, oneor more target devices being controlled over the network, the controlmethod causing a computer of the information apparatus to:

display a display screen on the display, the display screen representinga floor plan for one floor including at least two or more rooms;

display device icons representing the one or more target devices withinregions of the respective rooms included in the floor plan representedon the display screen, the device icons being initially displayed atpositions within the regions of the respective rooms included in thefloor plan; and

output to the network a first control command, when selection of anillumination icon representing an illumination device among the one ormore target devices is sensed within a region of any of the at least twoor more rooms included in the floor plan, and when selection of anyregion within a room, in which selection of the illumination icon issensed, is sensed, the first control command controlling on/off of powerfor an illumination device corresponding to the room in which selectionof the illumination icon is sensed.

In this case, when selection of an illumination icon representing anillumination device among the one or more target devices is sensed, andwhen selection of any region corresponding to a certain room in thefloor plan is sensed, a first control command for controlling on/off ofan illumination device provided in the region corresponding to thecertain room is output to the network.

That is, rather than providing a separate operation screen, the floorplan is used as an operation screen for operating on/off of theillumination device provided in the region corresponding to the certainroom. Therefore, by only sensing selection of an illumination iconrepresenting an illumination device among the one or more target deviceswithin a region of any of the at least two or more rooms included in thefloor plan, and sensing selection of any region within the room in whichselection of the illumination icon is sensed, on/off of an illuminationdevice corresponding to the room in which selection of the illuminationicon is sensed is controlled without displaying an operation screen foroperating on/off of the illumination device.

This saves one or more steps to be taken to display the operation screenseparately from the floor plan as in Patent Document 1, Patent Document3, and Patent Document 4 described above, and reduces the number ofprocess steps to be performed within the portable information terminalor the number of operations to be performed by the user. As a result, itis possible to reduce both the number of processes to be performedwithin the portable information terminal and the number of operations tobe performed by the user and to reduce the time before the user operatesa desired illumination device when remote controllers for the one ormore target devices are integrated into one.

As described above, on/off of the illumination device provided in theregion corresponding to the certain room is operated using the floorplan itself as an operation screen. This allows display of the floorplan to be not only used to simply display the state of operation of theillumination device as in Patent Document 2 described above, but alsoutilized to remotely operate the illumination device.

The device icons are initially displayed at positions within therespective regions of the rooms included in the floor plan. This makesit easy to recognize target devices of which rooms the device iconscorrespond to. When selection of the illumination icon is sensed withinthe region of any of the at least two or more rooms included in thefloor plan, it is recognized that the illumination device included inthe room for which the illumination icon is selected is the controltarget. Subsequently, when selection of any region within the room, inwhich selection of the illumination icon is sensed, is sensed, on/off ofpower for the illumination device corresponding to the room iscontrolled. This eliminates the need for a complicated and troublesomeoperation of moving an icon from a location outside each target regionto a location inside each target region such as that performed in thecase where Patent Document 5 described above is applied to a displayscreen representing a floor plan for one floor including two or morerooms. Instead, on/off of power for the illumination devicecorresponding to the room can be easily controlled by only a simpleoperation of selecting any region within the room as the control target.Further, on/off of the illumination device is not controlled by movingan icon from a location outside each target region to a location insideeach target region as in Patent Document 5 described above. Thisresolves the inconvenience that each time the icon is moved from acertain room to the next room that is adjacent to the certain room, theillumination device in the certain room is turned off against theintention of the user although the illumination device in the next roomis turned on. This also facilitates the operation in the case where tworooms for which it is desired to turn on the illumination device are notadjacent to but away from each other.

In the aspect described above, for example, in a case where two or moreillumination devices are installed in at least one of the at least twoor more rooms included in the floor plan,

an on/off control command may be output to the network, when selectionof the illumination icon is sensed once within any region of one room inwhich two or more illumination devices are installed, and when selectionof any region within the one room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, is sensed, the on/off control commandcontrolling on/off of power for the two or more illumination devicescorresponding to the one room in which selection of the illuminationicon is sensed.

In general, there may be a case where two or more illumination devicesare installed in the same room. In this case, for example, on/off ofpower for the two or more illumination devices may be controlled if oneselection of the illumination icon is sensed within any region of theroom in which the two or more illumination devices are installed. Thisallows the illumination devices to be controlled for each room, ratherthan for each device, which enables collective processing. This alsoreduces the number of illumination icons to be displayed on the displayscreen with a limited display region.

In the aspect described above, for example, when selection of theillumination icon is sensed, the device icons representing the one ormore target devices may be moved out of a region corresponding to theroom in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed.

In this case, the device icons representing the one or more targetdevices are no longer displayed on a region corresponding to the room inwhich selection of the illumination icon is sensed. This prevents theregion corresponding to the room as the control target from being hiddenby the device icons, and prevents an erroneous operation by the user.Therefore, any region within the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, can be selected freely without beinghindered by the presence of display of the device icons representing theone or more target devices. As a result, on/off control for theillumination device is prevented from being hindered by the presence ofdevice icons for controlling other target devices even in the case whereremote controllers for the one or more target devices are integratedinto one.

In the aspect described above, for example, when selection of theillumination icon is sensed, the device icons representing the one ormore target devices may be moved out of a display region of the displayscreen representing the floor plan.

In this case, the device icons representing the one or more targetdevices are no longer displayed at least on a region corresponding tothe room in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed. Thismakes the region corresponding to the room as the control target vacant.Therefore, any region within the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, can be selected freely without beinghindered by the presence of display of the device icons representing theone or more target devices. As a result, on/off control for theillumination device is prevented from being hindered by the presence ofdevice icons for controlling other target devices even in the case whereremote controllers for the one or more target devices are integratedinto one.

In addition, it can be indicated that the display screen representingthe floor plan is operable through display control in which the deviceicons representing the one or more target devices are retracted, whileeffectively exploiting the display resource being displayed alreadywithout displaying other display screens.

In the aspect described above, for example, in a case where power forthe illumination device is turned on, a region on the display screencorresponding to the room, in which selection of the illumination iconis sensed, may be displayed brightly with not less than specificbrightness.

In the aspect described above, for example, in a case where power forthe illumination device is turned off, the region on the display screencorresponding to the room, in which selection of the illumination iconis sensed, may be displayed darkly with less than the specificbrightness.

In these cases, the floor plan itself is also used as a screen fordisplaying the state of operation of the illumination device. Therefore,a separate display screen is not used as the screen for displaying thestate of operation of the illumination device. This reduces one or moresteps to be taken to display the state display screen separately fromthe floor plan as in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 3 describedabove, and decreases the number of process steps to be performed withinthe portable information terminal or the number of operations to beperformed by the user.

A region on the display screen corresponding to the room, in which theselection is sensed, is displayed brightly and/or darkly. This indicatesin which room the illumination device as the control target is locatedusing the floor plan being displayed already. As a result, the user canbe prevented from erroneously operating an illumination device in adifferent room in the case where the illumination icon is used in commonto one or more rooms.

Not only on/off of the illumination device corresponding to the room, inwhich the selection is sensed, is operated, but also the state ofoperation of the illumination device is displayed, using the floor planitself. Therefore, the same region being displayed already can be usednot only to remotely operate the illumination device but also to confirmthe state of operation of the illumination device. As a result, a screenfor remotely operating the illumination device and a screen forconfirming the state of operation of the illumination device can beprovided by effectively exploiting the display resource.

In the aspect described above, for example, the display may be a touchpanel display, and

sensing of the selection of the illumination icon, or sensing of theselection of any region within the room in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, may be performed by sensing a contact withthe touch panel display.

In the aspect described above, for example, sensing of the selection ofthe illumination icon, or sensing of the selection of any region withinthe room in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed, may beperformed by sensing a click with a mouse pointer.

In the aspect described above, for example, the display may be a touchpanel display, and

a second control command may be output to the network, when a contactwith the display is sensed in any region within the room in whichselection of the illumination icon is sensed, and when continuousmovement of the contact with the display on the display screen issensed, the second control command varying a light quantity of theillumination device in accordance with an amount of the movement.

In the aspect described above, for example, in a case where continuousmovement of the contact with the display is sensed, the continuousmovement from inside of a region of the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, to out of the region of the room, thesecond control command corresponding to the amount of the movementincluding an amount of the continuous movement out of the region of theroom, in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed, may beoutput to the network.

In this case, a sufficient amount of movement can be secured even if thedisplay size of the region corresponding to the room is small, forexample. This allows the light quantity of the illumination device to bevaried suitably irrespective of the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room.

In the aspect described above, for example, the second control commandmay cause the light quantity of the illumination device to increase moreas the amount of the movement is larger.

In the aspect described above, for example, the display may be a touchpanel display, and

a second control command may be output to the network, when a contactwith the display is sensed in any region within the room in whichselection of the illumination icon is sensed, and when continuousmovement of the contact with the display on the display screen issensed, the second control command varying a light quantity of theillumination device in accordance with a direction of the movement.

In the aspect described above, for example, in a case where continuousmovement of the contact with the display is sensed, the continuousmovement from inside of a region of the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, to out of the region of the room, thesecond control command corresponding to the direction of the continuousmovement including a direction of the movement out of the region of theroom, in which selection of the illumination icon is sensed, may beoutput to the network.

In this case, the direction of movement can be sensed reliably even ifthe display size of the region corresponding to the room is small, forexample. This allows the light quantity of the illumination device to bevaried suitably irrespective of the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room.

In the aspect described above, for example, the second control commandmay cause the light quantity of the illumination device to increase in acase where the direction of the movement is upward on the displayscreen.

In the aspect described above, for example, the second control commandmay cause the light quantity of the illumination device to decrease in acase where the direction of the movement is downward on the displayscreen.

In the aspect described above, for example, the display may be a touchpanel display,

an adjustment screen may be displayed in a case where a display size ofthe region corresponding to the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, is smaller than a predetermined displaysize, the adjustment screen being for adjusting a light quantity of theillumination device corresponding to the room in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, and

a second control command may be output to the network, in a case wheremovement of the contact with the display on the adjustment screen issensed, the second control command varying the light quantity of theillumination device in accordance with an amount of the movement.

In this case, the light quantity of the illumination device can beadjusted on the adjustment screen even if the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room is small. This allows the light quantity ofthe illumination device to be varied suitably irrespective of thedisplay size of the region corresponding to the room.

In the aspect described above, for example, the display may be a touchpanel display,

an adjustment screen may be displayed in a case where a display size ofthe region corresponding to the room, in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, is smaller than a predetermined displaysize, the adjustment screen being for adjusting a light quantity of theillumination device corresponding to the room in which selection of theillumination icon is sensed, and

a second control command may be output to the network, in a case wheremovement of the contact with the display on the adjustment screen issensed, the second control command varying the light quantity of theillumination device in accordance with a direction of the movement.

In this case, the light quantity of the illumination device can beadjusted on the adjustment screen even if the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room is small. This allows the light quantity ofthe illumination device to be varied suitably irrespective of thedisplay size of the region corresponding to the room.

In the aspect described above, for example, the adjustment screen mayhave a display size larger than the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room in which selection of the illumination icon issensed.

In this case, a sufficient amount of movement can be secured, forexample, and the direction of movement can be sensed reliably, forexample, on the adjustment screen even if the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room is small. This allows the light quantity ofthe illumination device to be varied suitably irrespective of thedisplay size of the region corresponding to the room.

In the aspect described above, for example, a control screen may bedisplayed on the display screen, when selection of a device iconrepresenting a target device other than the illumination device amongthe one or more target devices is sensed, the control screen being foroperating, or confirming a state of, the target device corresponding tothe selected device icon.

(The Present Disclosure)

The present disclosure will be described below with reference to thedrawings. In the drawings, the same symbols are used for the sameconstituent elements.

In the present disclosure, a home controller which can singly controlone or more devices will be described.

(Overall Configuration)

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a home controlsystem to which a home controller according to the present disclosure isapplied. As shown in FIG. 1, the home control system includes a homecontroller 100, a device 200 (an example of a target device), and aserver 300.

The home controller 100 and one or more devices 200 (for example, adevice A 200 and a device B 200) are disposed in a house. The server 300is disposed in a cloud center. The home controller 100, the device 200,and the server 300 communicate with each other via a wired or wirelessnetwork. For example, the device 200 and the home controller 100 arecommunicably connected to each other via a wireless or wired in-homenetwork, and the home controller 100, the device 200, and the server 300are communicably connected to each other via an external network such asthe Internet.

The home controller 100 is not necessarily disposed in the house, andmay be disposed outside the house. In this case, a user controls the oneor more devices 200 from a location away from the home.

A portable information terminal such as a smartphone or a tabletterminal may be adopted as the home controller 100. It should be noted,however, that the smartphone and the tablet terminal are merelyexemplary, and a portable information terminal of a button type such asa cellular phone may be adopted as the home controller 100.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main devices 200 to be controlled by thehome controller 100. The home controller 100 controls the devices 200such as an air conditioner 201, illumination devices 202 and 203, a bath204, a refrigerator 205, a washing machine 206, a toilet 207, and acurtain 208. The devices 200 to be controlled by the home controller 100may include a plurality of devices 200 of the same type such as theillumination devices 202 and 203.

The devices 200 such as the air conditioner 201 shown in FIG. 2 aremerely exemplary, and a television set, a Blu-ray recorder, an audiodevice, and so forth may be adopted as the devices 200. That is, anyelectrical device that functions to communicate with the home controller100 may be adopted as the device 200. In FIG. 2, electrical devices foruse in ordinary households are shown as the devices 200. However, thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto, and office devices for use inoffices or the like may be adopted as the devices 200. Examples of theoffice devices include a printer, a personal computer, a scanner, and acopy machine.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the homecontroller 100, the device 200, and the server 300. As shown in FIG. 3,the home controller 100 includes a display 101, a touch panel controlsection 102, a display control section 103, a storage section 104, adevice management section 105, a device control section 106, and acommunication control section 107.

The display 101 is formed from a touch panel display, for example, anddisplays a user interface that allows the user to operate the homecontroller 100. The user can input various operations to the homecontroller 100 by contacting the display 101.

The touch panel control section 102 recognizes an operation performed onthe display 101 by the user, interprets the content of the operation,and notifies the other constituent elements of the content of theoperation. For example, if an object is displayed at a position on thedisplay 101 tapped on by the user, the touch panel control section 102determines that the object is selected by the user. A variety of GUIparts that receive a user operation such as buttons are adopted as theobject.

The display control section 103 generates a GUI (Graphical UserInterface) of the home controller 100, and causes the display 101 todisplay the GUI. The storage section 104 stores information that isnecessary for operation of the home controller 100 such as a device listmanaged by the device management section 105.

The device management section 105 manages the control target devices 200using the device list stored in the storage section 104. In addition,the device management section 105 detects a device 200 when the device200 is connected to the in-home network. Further, the device managementsection 105 acquires home information 2700 to be discussed later fromthe server 300, stores the acquired home information 2700 in the storagesection 104, and manages the home information 2700. The device controlsection 106 issues a control command for the devices 200. Thecommunication control section 107 controls communication between thehome controller 100 and the devices 200 and communication between thehome controller 100 and the server 300. In addition, the communicationcontrol section 107 transmits a variety of data to the devices 200 orthe server 300 upon receiving a request to transmit such data from otherblocks, and receives data transmitted from the devices 200 or the server300 to deliver the data to the relevant block.

The display 101 may be a normal display rather than a touch paneldisplay. In this case, the user may use an external input device such asa mouse (not shown) to input an instruction to select an object bymoving a pointer displayed on the display 101 and clicking on a desiredobject. That is, in the present disclosure, a series of operationsperformed by the user by contacting the display 101 may be replaced withoperations of moving a pointer and clicking using an external inputdevice such as a mouse.

As shown in FIG. 3, the device 200 includes a control execution section201, a state management section 202, a storage section 204, and acommunication control section 207. The control execution section 201receives a control command from the home controller 100 or the server300, and controls the device 200 in accordance with the received controlcommand. The content of control of the device 200 performed by thecontrol execution section 201 differs in accordance with the type of thedevice 200. For example, if the device 200 is an illumination device,the control execution section 201 turns on and off the illuminationdevice. In addition, the control execution section 201 transmits theresult of execution of the control command and the state of the device200 to the home controller 100 or the server 300.

The state management section 202 manages the state of the device 200.The content of management of the device 200 performed by the statemanagement section 202 differs in accordance with the type of the device200. For example, if the device 200 is an illumination device, the statemanagement section 202 manages whether the illumination device iscurrently turned on or turned off. The storage section 204 storesinformation related to the state of the device 200 managed by the statemanagement section 202. The communication control section 207 controlscommunication between the device 200 and the home controller 100 andcommunication between the device 200 and the server 300. In addition,the communication control section 207 transmits a variety of data to thehome controller 100 or the server 300 upon receiving a request totransmit such data from other blocks, and receives data transmitted fromthe home controller 100 or the server 300 to deliver the data to therelevant block.

As shown in FIG. 3, the server 300 includes a home informationmanagement section 301, a device control section 302, a storage section304, and a communication control section 307. The home informationmanagement section 301 manages the home information 2700 to be discussedlater for each house or each user account. In addition, the homeinformation management section 301 transmits the home information 2700to the home controller 100 in response to a request from the homecontroller 100. Further, the home information management section 301acquires log information related to the use history of the device 200and information related to the state of the device 200 from the device200, stores the acquired information in the storage section 304, andmanages the information.

The device control section 302 transmits a control command to the device200 in response to a request from the home controller 100. The storagesection 304 stores information that is necessary for operation of theserver 300 such as the home information 2700 and the information relatedto the state of the device 200 managed by the home informationmanagement section 301. The communication control section 307 controlscommunication between the server 300 and the home controller 100 andcommunication between the server 300 and the device 200 as with thecommunication control section 107. In addition, the communicationcontrol section 307 transmits a variety of data to the home controller100 or the device 200 upon receiving a request to transmit such datafrom other blocks, and receives data transmitted from the homecontroller 100 or the device 200 to deliver the data to the relevantblock.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the form ofimplementation of the home controller 100. As shown in FIG. 4, the homecontroller 100 includes an application 401, an OS (Operating System)402, a memory 403, and other hardware (not shown).

The application 401 is application software for causing the portableinformation terminal to function as the home controller 100, and isexecuted by a processor of the home controller 100. The home controller100 may read the application 401 from a computer readable recordingmedium to implement the application 401, or may download the application401 from a network to implement the application 401. The OS 402 is basicsoftware of the portable information terminal, and is executed by theprocessor of the home controller 100. The memory 403 is formed from astorage device such as a RAM and a ROM of the home controller 100, andstores a group of data included in the application 401. The processor ofthe home controller 100 executes the application 401 to embody thefunctions of the touch panel control section 102, the display controlsection 103, the storage section 104, the device management section 105,the device control section 106, and the communication control section107 shown in FIG. 3. In addition, the processor of the home controller100 executes the application 401 to cause the memory 403 to function asthe storage section 104.

It should be noted, however, that in the present disclosure, the homecontroller 100 may be implemented by the application 401 alone, may beimplemented by the application 401 and the OS 402, may be implemented bythe application 401, the OS 402, and the memory 403, or may beimplemented by the application 401, the OS 402, the memory 403, andother hardware (not shown). In any present disclosure, the homecontroller 100 according to the present disclosure can be embodied. Inthe present disclosure, the processor and the storage device forming theportable information terminal, for example, form a computer. One of aCPU, an FPGA, and an ASIC or a combination of two or more of these maybe adopted as the processor. One of a ROM, a RAM, and a hard disk or acombination of two or more of these may be adopted as the storagedevice.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen of thehome controller 100. As shown in FIG. 5, the basic screen of the homecontroller 100 displayed on the display 101 include a floor plan 500,device icons 501, and a device list display change button 503. The floorplan 500 is a plan view that planarly represents the arrangement and theshape of one or more rooms forming each floor of a house. In the casewhere the house has one or more floors, the floor plan 500 is preparedfor each floor. For example, in the case where the house has two floors,two floor plans 500, namely a floor plan 601 for the first floor and afloor plan 602 for the second floor, are displayed on the display 101 asshown in FIG. 6.

The device icon 501 is an icon displayed as overlapped on the floor plan500 and representing the device 200. When the touch panel controlsection 102 senses a tap on the device icon 501 performed by the user,the display control section 103 causes the display 101 to display adevice control screen 502 to be discussed later. This allows the user tocontrol the device 200 by operating the device control screen 502.

The device icon 501 is prepared for each device 200. The display controlsection 103 disposes the device icon 501 on the floor plan 500 on thebasis of the actual arrangement of the device 200 within the house.Information as to at what position on the floor plan 500 the device icon501 is to be disposed is registered in an arrangement 3104 of a devicelist 3100 to be discussed later. Here, a position on the floor plan 500corresponding to the actual arrangement position of the device 200 isregistered in the arrangement 3104. Thus, the display control section103 can dispose the device icon 501 at a position on the floor plan 500corresponding to the actual arrangement position of the device 200 bydisposing the device icon 501 at the position registered in thearrangement 3104 of the device list 3100.

In the floor plan 500 shown in FIG. 5, one floor is partitioned into aplurality of rooms by partition lines that indicate partitions betweenthe rooms. This allows the user to recognize what device 200 is disposedin what room at a glance.

In the example of FIG. 5, in addition, schematic images of furniturepieces are displayed at positions on the floor plan 500 corresponding tothe actual arrangement positions of the furniture pieces. An image thatindicates the movable range of a door is displayed at a position on thefloor plan 500 corresponding to the actual arrangement position of thedoor. An image of a staircase is displayed at a position on the floorplan 500 corresponding to the actual arrangement position of thestaircase. This allows the user to recognize the positions of thefurniture pieces disposed in each room and the positions of thestaircase and the doors on the floor.

The button with a text “TO LIST UI” displayed at the lower right of thebasic screen is the device list display change button 503, which is abutton for switching the screen display from the basic screen to adevice list display screen to be discussed later (see FIG. 24). When thetouch panel control section 102 senses a tap on the device list displaychange button 503 performed by the user, the display control section 103switches the screen display on the display 101 from the basic screen tothe device list display screen. It should be noted, however, that thedisplay control section 103 may hide the device list display changebutton 503 in the case where a registration is made in the homecontroller 100 in advance that the device list display screen is notutilized.

In the foregoing description, one device icon 501 is correlated with onedevice 200. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, andone device icon 501 may be correlated with a plurality of devices 200 sothat the one device icon 501 may be used in common to the plurality ofdevices 200. For example, in the case where there are two illuminationdevices in a living room, the two illumination devices may berepresented by one device icon 501.

In this case, when the device icon 501 representing the two illuminationdevices is tapped on by the user, the display control section 103 causesthe display 101 to display a device control screen 502 that allowssimultaneous control of the two illumination devices. This allows theuser to control the two illumination devices at the same time. Aplurality of illumination devices are often disposed in a large roomsuch as the living room. In the case where the user turns on or off theillumination devices in the living room, the user often turns on or offall the illumination devices disposed in the living room, rather thanturning on or off some of the illumination devices. In this case, if itis possible to collectively turn on or off all the illumination devices,the number of operations to be performed by the user can be reduced.Thus, one device icon 501 may be correlated with a plurality of devices200 that are highly likely to be operated by the user at the same timeto cause one device control screen 502 to be displayed.

In the case where the device icon 501 represents a plurality of devices200, the display control section 103 may display the device icon 501 ata position on the floor plan 500 corresponding to the actual arrangementposition of one of the devices 200. Alternatively, the display controlsection 103 may display the device icon 501 representing the pluralityof devices 200 at a predetermined location of a room in which theplurality of devices 200 are disposed.

In order to dispose the device icon 501 on the floor plan 500 on thebasis of the actual arrangement of the device 200 within the house, theuser moves the device icon 501 to an appropriate position on the floorplan 500. The user can move the device icon 501 to a desired position bydragging the device icon 501 while holding down the device icon 501.These operations are executed at the timing when the device icon 501 isadded such as when the home controller 100 is initially utilized andwhen a new device 200 is purchased.

Specifically, when the touch panel control section 102 senses a drag onthe device icon 501, the device management section 105 registers theposition on the floor plan 500 of the device icon 501 after the movementin the arrangement 3104 of the device list 3100 to be discussed later.This allows a position on the floor plan 500 corresponding to the actualarrangement position of the device 200 to be registered in thearrangement 3104.

The initial display position of the device icon 501 may be determined inadvance by the system, and may be a predetermined position outside thedisplay region of the floor plan 500 or a predetermined position withina predetermined room on the floor plan 500, for example. The method ofdisposing the device icon 501 on the floor plan 500 on the basis of theactual arrangement of the device 200 within the house is not limitedthereto, and the method described below may be used.

As shown in FIGS. 7, 8, and 9, some floor plans 500 include arrangementinformation for the device icons 501. For example, in the example of thefloor plan 500 of FIG. 7, texts that indicate the type of the devices200 represented by the device icons 501 to be disposed are provided atpositions at which the device icons 501 are to be disposed. In theexample of the floor plan 500 of FIG. 8, images that indicate the typeof the devices 200 represented by the device icons 501 to be disposedare provided at positions at which the device icons 501 are to bedisposed. In the example of the floor plan 500 of FIG. 9, simplifiedimages such as circles and rectangles that indicate the type of thedevices 200 represented by the device icons 501 to be disposed areprovided at positions at which the device icons 501 are to be disposed.

Consequently, in the case where the floor plan 500 includes arrangementinformation for the device icons 501, the display control section 103may generate the basic screen of FIG. 5 by automatically disposing thedevice icons 501 on the floor plan 500 on the basis of the arrangementinformation included in the floor plan 500. In this case, it is notnecessary for the user to perform an operation of moving the deviceicons 501 to appropriate positions on the floor plan 500.

For example, in an exemplary floor plan 4401 for the first floor of FIG.7, the display control section 103 detects a position provided with atext “TELEVISION SET”, automatically disposes the device icon 501 forthe television set at the detected position, and registers the detectedposition in the arrangement 3104 of the device list 3100.

In an exemplary floor plan 4501 for the first floor of FIG. 8, thedisplay control section 103 detects a position provided with an imagefor the “television set”, automatically disposes the device icon 501 forthe television set at the detected position, and registers the detectedposition in the arrangement 3104 of the device list 3100. In anexemplary floor plan 4601 for the first floor of FIG. 9, the displaycontrol section 103 detects a position provided with an image in theshape of a “circle filled with oblique lines”, automatically disposesthe device icon 501 for the television set at the detected position, andregisters the detected position in the arrangement 3104 of the devicelist 3100.

The display control section 103 may detect the display position ofarrangement information by recognizing the arrangement informationincluded in the floor plan 500 using a text recognition technology or animage recognition technology commonly utilized.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a method of switching the floordisplay on the basic screen of the home controller 100. FIG. 10illustrates a case where the house has two floors, namely the firstfloor and the second floor. With a floor plan 601 for the first floordisplayed on the basic screen of the home controller 100, the touchpanel control section 102 senses a tap on a staircase region 603 on thefirst floor performed by the user. Then, the display control section 103switches the floor display on the basic screen from the first floor tothe second floor. Similarly, with a floor plan 602 for the second floordisplayed on the basic screen of the home controller 100, the touchpanel control section 102 senses a tap on a staircase region 604 on thesecond floor performed by the user. Then, the display control section103 switches the floor display on the basic screen from the second floorto the first floor.

Here, the touch panel control section 102 may judge that the staircaseregion 603 is tapped on if the position tapped on by the user ispositioned within a region surrounded by four vertexes of a staircaseregistered in a room type 2902 of room information 2900 (see FIG. 32).

Further, the floor display may be switched by not only tapping on thestaircase region 603 but also a swipe operation on the display 101. Withthe floor plan 601 for the first floor displayed on the basic screen ofthe home controller 100, the touch panel control section 102 senses aswipe operation performed from the right to the left on the display 101by the user. Then, the display control section 103 switches the floordisplay on the basic screen from the first floor to the second floor.Similarly, with the floor plan 602 for the second floor displayed on thebasic screen of the home controller 100, the touch panel control section102 senses a swipe operation performed from the left to the right on thedisplay 101 by the user. Then, the display control section 103 switchesthe floor display on the basic screen from the second floor to the firstfloor. The floor display may be switched by a swipe operation in thevertical direction.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of the display state ofthe device control screen 502 of the home controller 100. In the basicscreen shown in FIG. 5, when the touch panel control section 102 sensesthat the user selects the device icon 501, the display control section103 causes the display 101 to display the device control screen 502corresponding to the selected device icon 501. The device control screen502 is a control screen that is specific to each device 200 and thatallows control or confirmation of the state of the device 200. Forexample, in FIG. 11, a device icon 801 for the air conditioner isselected by the user, and the temperature setting and the air flowdirection are controlled using the device control screen 502 for the airconditioner.

An image of the air conditioner is displayed in the device controlscreen 502 to allow the user to immediately recognize that the devicecontrol screen 502 corresponds to the air conditioner. This prevents anerroneous operation. An image that indicates the air flow direction isdisplayed on the lower side of the image of the air conditioner to allowthe user to select a desired air flow direction by repeatedly tapping onthe image, for example. A numeral displayed within the device controlscreen 502 indicates the current set temperature of the air conditioner.A button in the shape of a triangle that points upward in the devicecontrol screen 502 is a temperature increase button. A button in theshape of a triangle that points downward is a temperature decreasebutton. Pressing the temperature increase button once increases the settemperature of the air conditioner by a predetermined temperature (forexample, 0.5 degrees). Pressing the temperature decrease button oncedecreases the set temperature of the air conditioner by a predeterminedtemperature (for example, 0.5 degrees).

Examples of the method of disposing the device icons 501 in the displaystate of the device control screen 502 include the following methods.

A first method is to dispose the device icons 501 outside the displayregion of the device control screen 502 as shown in FIG. 11. When thetouch panel control section 102 senses that a certain device icon 501 istapped on by the user, the display control section 103 disposes all thedevice icons 501 at locations outside the display region of the devicecontrol screen 502 and inside the display region of the display 101irrespective of whether or not the locations are inside the displayregion of the floor plan 500. In the example of FIG. 11, the deviceicons 501 are disposed in an elliptical arrangement so as to surroundthe device control screen 502. That is, when a certain device icon 501is selected by the user and the device control screen 502 for the device200 corresponding to the device icon 501 is displayed, the displaycontrol section 103 retracts all the device icons 501 out of the displayregion of the device control screen 502.

This prevents the device icons 501 from being hidden by the devicecontrol screen 502. Therefore, in the case where the device controlscreen 502 for a device 200 is currently displayed and the user attemptsto cause the device control screen 502 for another device 200 to bedisplayed, it is not necessary for the user to temporarily erase thecurrently displayed device control screen 502 and search for the deviceicon 501 for the relevant device 200.

Here, the display control section 103 may decide the arrangementposition of each device icon 501 on the outer periphery of an ellipsehaving a shape determined in advance in accordance with the size of thedevice control screen 502, and dispose the device icon 501 at thedecided position, for example. Examples of the method of deciding thearrangement position include a method of arranging all the device icons501 as display targets at equal intervals on the outer periphery of anellipse, and a method of disposing the device icons 501 such that theangles formed by lines connecting between adjacent device icons 501 andthe center of an ellipse are equal to each other. Alternatively, thedisplay control section 103 may divide the outer periphery of an ellipseinto four sections corresponding to the upper, lower, left, and rightportions of the device control screen 502, and dispose the device icons501 such that the number of device icons 501 in each section is the sameand the device icons 501 in each section are arranged at equalintervals. The device icon 501 disposed at the closest position on thefloor plan 500 may be disposed at the decided arrangement position.

In the foregoing description, the device icons 501 are arranged in anelliptical arrangement. However, the present disclosure is not limitedthereto, and the device icons 501 may be arranged in a circulararrangement. Also in this case, the arrangement position of the deviceicons 501 may be decided using the same method as in the case where thedevice icons 501 are arranged in an elliptical arrangement. Otherexamples of the shape of arrangement of the device icons 501 used whenthe device icons 501 are retracted out of the display region of thedevice control screen 502 include polygonal arrangements such astriangular, rectangular, and pentagonal arrangements.

A second method is to dispose the device icons 501 in one line outsidethe display region of the device control screen 502 and the floor plan500 and inside the display region of the display 101 as shown in FIG.13. When the touch panel control section 102 senses that a certaindevice icon 501 is tapped on by the user, the display control section103 disposes all the device icons 501 in one vertical line on the leftside of the display region of the floor plan 500. That is, the displaycontrol section 103 retracts all the device icons 501 to a vacant spaceoutside the display region of the floor plan 500 and inside the displayregion of the display 101.

In FIG. 13, the device icons 501 are disposed on the left side of thefloor plan 502. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto,and the device icons 501 may be disposed in one vertical line on theright side of the floor plan 502, or may be disposed in one horizontalline on the upper or lower side of the floor plan 500.

In the case where all the device icons 501 cannot be disposed on theleft side of the floor plan 500, the display control section 103 mayscroll the device icons 501 upward or downward in accordance with aswipe operation performed upward or downward on the device icons 501disposed in one vertical line on the left side to cause the device icons501, which have been hidden, to be displayed within the display 101.

This allows the device icons 501, which have been hidden, to bedisplayed within the display 101 to allow the user to select the deviceicons 501. In the case where the device icons 501 are displayed in onehorizontal line and all the device icons 501 may not displayed, thedisplay control section 103 may scroll the device icons 501 leftward orrightward in accordance with a swipe operation performed leftward orrightward on the device icons 501 disposed in one horizontal line tocause the device icons 501, which have been hidden, to be displayedwithin the display 101.

In the display state of the device control screen 502, the displaycontrol section 103 may display the device icon 501 selected by the userin a display mode that is different from that for the unselected deviceicons 501. This allows the user to easily recognize the selected deviceicon 501.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the display control section 103 maydisplay the selected device icon 801 in a color that is different fromthat of the other unselected device icons 501. Specifically, the displaycontrol section 103 may display a background portion of the selecteddevice icon 501 in a color that is different from that of backgroundportions of the unselected device icons 501. It should be noted,however, that such a display mode is merely exemplary, and the displaycontrol section 103 may make the selected device icon 501 brighter thanthe unselected device icons 501, may make the selected device icon 501denser than the unselected device icons 501, or may cause the selecteddevice icon 501 to flash on and off at a constant cycle.

In the display state of the device control screen 502, the device icon501 selected by the user may be disposed as distinguished from theunselected device icons 501. This allows the user to easily recognizethe selected device icon 501.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the display control section 103 maydispose a selected device icon 901 at the uppermost position on theouter periphery of an ellipse. Besides, for example, the display controlsection 103 may dispose the selected device icon 501 at a particularposition (for example, the lowermost position, the rightmost position,or the leftmost position) on the outer periphery of an ellipse. In anyevent, the display control section 103 may dispose the device icon 501selected by the user at a particular location that is easilyrecognizable by the user.

Besides, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, the display control section103 may scroll an array of the device icons 501 such that a selecteddevice icon 1101 is disposed within the display region of the display101. In the example of FIG. 14, the device icons 501 are scrolled suchthat the selected device icon 1101 is disposed at the center of a lineof icons displayed in one vertical line on the left side of the floorplan 500. This allows the user to easily recognize the selected deviceicon 501. Although the device icon 1101 is disposed at the center of theline of icons in FIG. 14, the device icon 1101 may be disposed at anyother conspicuous position. For example, the device icon 1101 may bedisposed at the top or bottom position of the line of icons.

The order of arrangement of the device icons 501 taken when the deviceicons 501 are retracted out of the display region of the floor plan 500may be determined such that devices 200 that are closer in position ofarrangement on the floor plan 500 to the device icon 501 selected by theuser are disposed to be closer in order of arrangement to the selecteddevice icon 501. Alternatively, the order of arrangement of the deviceicons 501 may be determined such that the device icons 501 for devices200 that are more likely to be used together with the device 200selected by the user are disposed to be closer in order of arrangementto the device icon 501 for the device 200 selected by the user. Forexample, the television set and the Blu-ray recorder are highly likelyto be used together by the user. Therefore, when the device icon 501 forthe television set is selected by the user, the device icon 501 for theBlu-ray recorder may be displayed next to the device icon 501 for thetelevision set. In order to embody such a configuration, a table thatindicates combinations of devices 200 that are highly likely to be usedtogether may be stored in advance in the storage section 104, and thearrangement of the device icons 501 may be decided in accordance withthe table.

In any of the methods of disposing the device icons 501 taken when thedevice control screen 502 is displayed described above, in addition, thedisplay control section 103 may dispose the device icons 501 as groupedunder particular conditions.

For example, in FIG. 15, the device icons 501 are grouped in accordancewith the location at which the devices 200 are disposed. The devices 200disposed in the living room are grouped as device icons 1201. Thedevices 200 disposed in a lavatory are grouped as device icons 1202. Thedevices 200 disposed in a bedroom are grouped as device icons 1203.Then, the display order is set to each group, and the grouped deviceicons 501 are disposed in one vertical line on the left side of thefloor plan 500 in accordance with the display order. The display orderof the groups may be determined such that groups that are positionedcloser to the room in which the device 200 selected by the user isdisposed are closer in display order to the group for the room in whichthe device 200 selected by the user is disposed.

Besides, the display control section 103 may dispose the device icons501 as grouped in accordance with the type of the devices 200. Forexample, in FIG. 16, two device icons 501 for the television set aredisposed on the left side of the floor plan 500 as grouped as deviceicons 2301, and two device icons 501 for the air conditioner aredisposed on the left side of the floor plan 500 as grouped as deviceicons 2302 for the air conditioner. Consequently, the display controlsection 103 may group the device icons 501 in accordance with the devicetype by disposing the device icons 501 for the devices 200 of the sametype to be continuous.

The display control section 103 may discriminate the type of the devices200 in accordance with the content registered in a device type 3102 ofthe device list 3100 (see FIG. 35).

Although the device icons 501 for the devices 200 of the same type aregrouped into one group in the foregoing description, the presentdisclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the display controlsection 103 may classify the devices 200 into categories matching thedevice type, group the device icons 501 in accordance with the category,and dispose the device icons 501 on the left side of the floor plan 500in groups.

For example, as shown in the lower left of FIG. 16, three device icons501 for the refrigerator, a microwave oven, and a dish washing/dryingmachine are classified into a cooking device category, and therefore thethree device icons are grouped as device icons 2303 for the cookingdevices and disposed on the left side of the floor plan 500.

Examples of the other categories include entertainment devices andair-conditioning devices. The entertainment device category includesdevices 200 such as a television set, a recorder, a player, and a hometheater system. The air-conditioning device category includes devices200 such as an air conditioner, an air purifier, a humidifier, adehumidifier, and a home air circulation system.

For example, if the device icons 501 for the television set, therecorder, the air conditioner, and the air purifier are disposed on thefloor plan 500 and the device icon 501 for the television set isselected by the user, the device icons 501 for the television set andthe recorder classified into the entertainment device category aregrouped into one group and disposed on the left side of the floor plan500, and the device icons 501 for the air conditioner and the airpurifier classified into the air-conditioning device category aregrouped into one group and disposed on the left side of the floor plan500.

The display control section 103 may determine the category of thedevices 200 from the content registered in the device type 3102 of thedevice list 3100. In this case, a classification table for determiningthe category of the devices 200 from the content registered in thedevice type 3102 may be stored in advance in the storage section 104,and the display control section 103 may reference the classificationtable to discriminate the category of the devices 200.

A variety of manners of classifying the devices 200 according to thedevice type may be adopted besides that described above. For example, asshown in FIG. 24, the devices 200 may be classified into householdappliance, air-conditioning, and facility categories.

The method of grouping the device icons 501 on the basis of particularconditions and disposing the device icons 501 as described above mayalso be applied to the display mode in which the device icons 501 areretracted so as to surround the device control screen 502 as shown inFIG. 11.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are each a diagram showing a method of displaying thefloor plan 500 with the device control screen 502 displayed. As shown inFIGS. 17A and 17B, there are two types of the method of displaying thefloor plan 500. In a first display method, as shown in FIG. 17A, theentire floor plan 500 is covered by a translucent gray layer (in thedrawing, indicated by dots).

In this case, the background of the device control screen 502 is turnedinto a gray color to emphasize the device control screen 502, whichallows the user to more definitely recognize the device control screen502. In addition, the gray layer is translucent, and the floor plan 500is not completely hidden. This allows the device control screen 502 tobe operated with presence. The gray layer is image data having a colorwith low brightness such as gray and set to predetermined transparency.

The display control section 103 may decide the display order of thedevice control screen 502, the gray layer, and the floor plan 500 suchthat the device control screen 502 is the uppermost layer and the floorplan 500 is the lowermost layer, and synthesize these images. Thisprevents the device control screen 502 from being displayed as coveredby the gray layer.

In a second display method, as shown in FIG. 17B, a non-control targetregion 1302 in the floor plan 500 is covered by a translucent gray layer(the region with dots in the drawing), and a control target region 1301is not covered by the translucent gray layer. This allows the user tooperate the device control screen 502 while being conscious of thecontrol target region 1301, which allows operation with presence. Here,the control target region 1301 refers to a region on the floor plan 500that corresponds to a room in which the device 200 represented by thedevice icon 501 selected by the user is disposed, and the non-controltarget region 1302 refers to a region on the floor plan 500 other thanthe room. For example, in the case where the control target device isthe air conditioner installed in the living room, the control targetregion 1301 is the region on the floor plan 500 corresponding to theliving room, and the non-control target region 1302 is the region on thefloor plan 500 other than the living room.

For example, it is assumed that the user selects the device icon 501 forthe air conditioner with a device ID 3101 of A shown in FIG. 35. In thiscase, the display control section 103 specifies the position(X10,Y100,Z1) of the air conditioner from the content registered in thearrangement 3104 of the air conditioner. Next, the display controlsection 103 references the room information 2900 to decide in which roomthe specified position (X10,Y100,Z1) is positioned. Here, it is assumedthat the position (X10,Y100,Z1) is positioned within a region surroundedby vertexes with vertex IDs of F, G, H, I, L, O, and N. Then, thedisplay control section 103 determines that the air conditioner isdisposed in the living room with a room ID of A. Then, the displaycontrol section 103 generates a gray layer with the region of the livingroom defined as the control target region 1301 and with the region onthe floor plan 500 other than the living room defined as the non-controltarget region 1302.

Next, transition between the display state of the basic screen and thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 will be described usingFIG. 18. In the basic screen shown in the left diagram of FIG. 18, theuser selects the device icon 501 for the device 200 (here, the airconditioner) that is desired to be controlled, and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection. Then, as shown in the rightdiagram of FIG. 18, the display control section 103 displays the devicecontrol screen 502 corresponding to the selected device icon 501 asoverlapped on the floor plan 500. This results in transition from thedisplay state of the basic screen to the display state of the devicecontrol screen 502.

On the other hand, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 18, in thedisplay state of the device control screen 502, the user taps on thedevice icon 501 for the air conditioner corresponding to the devicecontrol screen 502 or a location outside the display region of thedevice control screen 502 (for example, the display region of the floorplan 500 outside the display region of the device control screen 502),and the touch panel control section 102 senses the tap. Then, as shownin the left diagram of FIG. 18, the display control section 103 erasesthe device control screen 502, and returns from the display state of thedevice control screen 502 to the display state of the basic screen. Atthis time, the display control section 103 returns the device icon 501to the original arrangement position on the floor plan 500.

The operation described above is the same for the floor plan 500 for anyfloor displayed in the basic screen. For example, as shown in the leftdiagram of FIG. 19, in the case where the basic screen displays thefloor plan 602 for the second floor, the user taps on the device icon501 for the device 200 (here, the air conditioner) that is desired to becontrolled, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the tap.Then, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 19, the display controlsection 103 displays the device control screen 502 corresponding to theselected device icon 501 as overlapped on the floor plan 602 for thesecond floor.

On the other hand, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 19, in thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 for the air conditioner,the user taps on the device icon 501 for the air conditionercorresponding to the device control screen 502 being displayed or alocation outside the display region of the device control screen 502(for example, the display region of the floor plan 500 outside thedisplay region of the device control screen 502), and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the tap. Then, as shown in the left diagramof FIG. 19, the display control section 103 erases the device controlscreen 502, and returns from the display state of the device controlscreen 502 to the display state of the basic screen in which the floorplan 602 for the second floor is displayed.

Next, a method of switching from the display state of a certain devicecontrol screen 502 to the display state of another device control screen502 will be described using FIG. 20. As shown in the left diagram ofFIG. 20, in the display state of the device control screen 502 for theair conditioner, the user taps on the device icon 501 for the washingmachine which is different from the device icon 501 for the airconditioner, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the tap.Then, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 20, the display controlsection 103 erases the device control screen 502 which has beendisplayed, and displays the device control screen 502 corresponding tothe device icon 501 for the washing machine as overlapped on the floorplan 500. Switching in the opposite direction is performed in the samemanner.

Consequently, when the user successively selects different device icons501, switching is successively performed between the device controlscreens 502, which allows the user to successively control differentdevices 200. That is, in causing another device control screen 502 to bedisplayed while a certain device control screen 502 is displayed, it isno longer necessary for the user to input an operation of erasing thecertain device control screen 502, and switching can be performedbetween the device control screens 502 with one touch operation.

In the display state of the device control screen 502, in the case wherethe user taps on the device icon 501 corresponding to the device controlscreen 502 being displayed, the display control section 103 may onlyerase the device control screen 502, and may not return to the basicscreen. Such screen transition is shown in FIG. 21.

In the left diagram of FIG. 21, the device icon 501 for the airconditioner is selected by the user, and therefore the device controlscreen 502 for the air conditioner is displayed, and all the deviceicons 501 are displayed in one vertical line on the left side of thefloor plan 500. In this state, the user taps on the device icon 501 forthe air conditioner, and the touch panel control section 102 senses thetap. Then, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 21, the display controlsection 103 erases only the device control screen 502 for the airconditioner with the device icons 501 kept displayed in one verticalline. In this case, the device icons 501 do not move onto the floor plan500, and therefore a user's desire to cause only the floor plan 500 tobe displayed may be met.

On the other hand, in the hidden state of the device control screen 502,the user selects a desired device icon 501, and the touch panel controlsection 102 senses the selection. Then, the display control section 103displays the device control screen 502 corresponding to the selecteddevice icon 501. For example, in the right diagram of FIG. 21, when theuser selects the device icon 501 for the air conditioner from the deviceicons 501 disposed in one vertical line on the left side of the floorplan 500, the device control screen 502 for the air conditioner isdisplayed as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 21.

Next, transition from the display state of the basic screen to thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 represented through ananimation will be described using FIG. 22. As shown in the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 22, the user selects the device icon 501 for the airconditioner, for example, in the basic screen. Then, the display controlsection 103 gradually lowers the transparency of the device controlscreen 502 for the air conditioner in the order of the upper rightdiagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower left diagram of FIG. 22to a final transparency of 0. At the same time, the display controlsection 103 moves all the device icons 501 onto the outer periphery ofan ellipse that surrounds the device control screen 502.

Next, transition from the display state of the basic screen to thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 represented through ananimation will be described using FIG. 23. As shown in the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 23, the user selects the device icon 501 for the device200 which is the air conditioner, for example, in the basic screen.Then, the display control section 103 gradually decreases thetransparency of the device control screen 502 for the air conditioner inthe order of the upper right diagram, the lower right diagram, and thelower left diagram of FIG. 23 to a final transparency of 0. At the sametime, the display control section 103 moves all the device icons to theleft side of the floor plan 500.

Consequently, representing the screen transition through an animationcan enhance the interest of the user in operating the device controlscreen 502 through screen rendering shown since the device icon 501 isselected until the device control screen 502 is displayed.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list displayscreen. The device list display screen is displayed when the user tapson the device list display change button 503 in the basic screen shownin FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 24, the device list display screen includes a devicelist 2000, device details icons 2001, and a basic screen display button2003.

When the user taps on the device details icon 2001 and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the tap, the display control section 103causes the device control screen 502 to be displayed as overlapped onthe device list 2000. This allows the user to cause the device controlscreen 502 to be displayed and operate the device 200 as in the casewhere the device icon 501 is tapped on.

The device details icon 2001 is prepared for each device 200. The devicedetails icon 2001 is different from the device icon 501 in representingnot only an image representing the device 200 but also the on/off stateand the operation state of the device 200. For example, the devicedetails icon 2001 for the refrigerator displayed in the upper left ofFIG. 24 displays not only an image of the refrigerator but also “ON”,which indicates that the refrigerator is currently turned on, and“OPERATION/ICE”, which indicates that the refrigerator is currentlymaking ice.

In the device list 2000, the device details icons 2001 are displayed asclassified on the basis of a classification criterion determined inadvance. Examples of the classification criterion determined in advanceinclude the type of the device 200, the room in which the device 200 isdisposed, and the status of use of the device 200. In FIG. 24, the typeof the device 200 is used as the classification criterion, and thedevice details icons 2001 are classified into three categories, namelythe household appliance, air-conditioning, and facility categories.

In the example of FIG. 24, the refrigerator, an electric toothbrush, thewashing machine, and the television set are classified into thehousehold appliance category, the air conditioner and the air purifierare classified into the air-conditioning category, and the toilet, theillumination device, and the bath are classified into the facilitycategory. In this case, a classification table that determines intowhich of the household appliance, air-conditioning, and facilitycategories each device 200 is classified on the basis of the contentregistered in the device type 3102 of the device list 3100 (see FIG. 35)is stored in advance in the storage section 104. Then, the displaycontrol section 103 may reference the classification table to classifyeach device into a category.

Returning to FIG. 24, the button with a text “TO FLOOR PLAN UI”displayed at the lower right of the device list 2000 is the basic screendisplay button 2003. The basic screen display button 2003 is a buttonfor switching the screen from the device list display screen to thebasic screen.

Although switching can be made between the basic screen and the devicelist display screen in the foregoing description, the device listdisplay screen may be utilized as the basic screen in place of the basicscreen shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the basic screen display button2003 may be omitted.

In the foregoing description, one device details icon 2001 is correlatedwith one device 200. However, the present disclosure is not limitedthereto, and one device details icon 2001 may be correlated with aplurality of devices 200 so that the one device details icon 2001 may beused in common to the plurality of devices 200. For example, in the casewhere there are two illumination devices in a living room, the twoillumination devices may be represented by one device details icon 2001.

In this case, when the device details icon 2001 representing the twoillumination devices is tapped on by the user, the display controlsection 103 causes the display 101 to display a device control screen502 that allows simultaneous control of the two illumination devices. Inthis case, the same effect as that obtained in the case where one deviceicon 501 is used in common to a plurality of devices 200 is obtained. Inthe case where one device details icon 2001 is used in common to aplurality of illumination devices, the device details icon 2001 maydisplay the on/off state and the operation state of each of twoillumination devices.

In the basic screen, the device details icon 2001 may be used in placeof the device icon 501. In the device list display screen, the deviceicon 501 may be used in place of the device details icon 2001. Inaddition, the device control screen 502 displayed in the case where thedevice details icon 2001 is selected and the device control screen 502displayed in the case where the device icon 501 is selected may be thesame as or different from each other. For example, the device detailsicon 2001 contains more information than that of the device icon 501,and therefore the device control screen 502 displayed in the case wherethe device details icon 2001 is selected may include more buttons andstates than those of the device control screen 502 displayed in the casewhere the device icon 501 is selected.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing screen transition between the basic screenand the device list display screen. In the basic screen shown in theleft diagram of FIG. 25, when the device list display change button 503is selected by the user, display on the display 101 is switched to thedevice list display screen shown in the right diagram of FIG. 25. On theother hand, in the device list display screen shown in the right diagramof FIG. 25, when the basic screen display button 2003 is selected by theuser, display on the display 101 is switched to the basic screen shownin the left diagram of FIG. 25.

Specifically, when the touch panel control section 102 senses a tap onthe basic screen display button 2003, the display control section 103switches the display screen on the display 101 to the basic screen fromthe device list display screen. On the other hand, in the display stateof the basic screen, when the touch panel control section 102 senses atap on the device list display change button 503, the display controlsection 103 switches the display screen on the display 101 from thebasic screen to the device list display screen.

For example, in the case where the device list display screen isselected for display, and in the case where the user attempts to operatethe television set located in front of the user, the device list displayscreen includes only one device details icon 2001 for the television setif there is only one television set in the house. This allows the userto directly select the device details icon 2001 for the television setwithout an erroneous operation, and to cause the device control screen502 corresponding to the television set to be displayed.

On the other hand, in the case where the device list display screen isselected, the device list display screen focuses on the individualdevices 200, and thus the relationship between the device 200 and thelocation at which the device 200 is disposed is unclear, although it ispossible to operate or confirm the state of the individual devices 200.Therefore, for a plurality of devices 200 installed within the samebuilding, such as the air conditioners or the illumination devices, forexample, it is unclear the air conditioner or the illumination device inwhich room is the control target, which may incur an erroneousoperation.

Thus, in the present disclosure, the basic screen is provided inaddition to the device list display screen to allow selection from thebasic screen and the device list display screen.

Consequently, in the case where the basic screen is selected, therelationship between the device 200 and the location at which the device200 is disposed is made definite. Therefore, also for a plurality ofdevices 200 of the same type installed in the same building, such as theair conditioners or illumination devices, for example, a discriminationas to the air conditioner or the illumination device in which room isthe control target is facilitated. This prevents the air conditioner orthe illumination device installed in a room that is different from thedesired room from being erroneously operated.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing screen transition between the display stateof the device list display screen and the display state of the devicecontrol screen 502. In the device list display screen shown in the leftdiagram of FIG. 26, the user selects the device details icon 2001 forthe device 200 (here, the air conditioner) that is desired to becontrolled, and the touch panel control section 102 senses theselection. Then, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 26, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the device control screen 502 for the airconditioner corresponding to the selected device details icon 2001 asoverlapped on the device list display screen. This results in transitionfrom the display state of the device list display screen to the displaystate of the device control screen 502.

In the example in the right drawing of FIG. 26, the display controlsection 103 hides the device details icons 2001 for devices other thanthe air conditioner selected by the user, and only the device detailsicon 2001 for the air conditioner is displayed at a position that isdifferent from that in the device control screen 502. This allows theuser to definitely recognize the device details icon 2001 that the userhimself/herself selected.

On the other hand, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 26, in thedisplay state of the device control screen 502, the user selects thedevice details icon 2001 for the air conditioner, and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection. Then, as shown in the leftdiagram of FIG. 26, the display control section 103 erases the devicecontrol screen 502, and returns from the display state of the devicecontrol screen 502 to the display state of the device list displayscreen.

Although only one device details icon 2001 is displayed in the displaystate of the device control screen 502 shown in the right diagram ofFIG. 26, other device details icons 2001 that are not selected by theuser may be displayed in the same manner as in FIG. 13. In this case,the plurality of device details icons 2001 may be displayed in one lineat an end of the screen as shown in FIG. 13, or may be displayed so asto surround the device control screen 502 as shown in FIG. 12.

According to the configuration, the user can successively select thedevice details icons 2001 in the display state of the device controlscreen 502 to successively display other device control screens 502.Consequently, in causing another device control screen 502 to bedisplayed while a certain device control screen 502 is displayed, it isno longer necessary for the user to input an operation of erasing thecertain device control screen 502, and switching can be performedbetween the device control screens 502 with one touch operation.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing screen transition between the display stateof the basic screen and the display state of the device control screen502 performed in the case where the basic screen includes a plurality ofdevice icons 501 representing the devices 200 of the same type. As shownin the left diagram of FIG. 27, the basic screen includes two deviceicons 501 for the television set. Here, the device icon 501 for atelevision set A is represented as a device icon 2401, and the deviceicon 501 for a television set B is represented as a device icon 2402. Atthis time, the user can intuitively select a television set that isdesired to be controlled from the floor plan 500, and operate thetelevision set.

For example, in the right diagram of FIG. 27, the device icon 2401 forthe television set A is selected, and a device control screen 2403 forthe television set A is displayed. Consequently, even if there are aplurality of device icons 501 for the devices 200 of the same type, eachdevice icon 501 is disposed at a position on the floor plan 500corresponding to the actual installation position. This allows the userto intuitively select the device icon 501 for a device 200 that isdesired to be controlled in accordance with the display position on thefloor plan 500, which prevents the device control screen 502 for anotherdevice 200 from being erroneously displayed.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing screen transition performed in the casewhere different device icons 501 are successively selected in thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 to successively switchbetween the device control screens 502. In the upper left diagram, adevice control screen 2511 for the air conditioner is displayed. Whenthe device icon 2501 for the refrigerator is selected in this state, adevice control screen 2512 for the refrigerator is displayed on thedisplay 101 as shown in the upper right diagram. When the device icon2502 for the washing machine is selected in the upper left diagram, adevice control screen 2513 for the washing machine is displayed as shownin the lower right diagram. When the device icon 2503 for the airpurifier is selected in the upper left diagram, a device control screen2514 for the air purifier is displayed as shown in the lower leftdiagram. Such screen transition is performed in the same manner in theupper right diagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower leftdiagram.

Consequently, when the user selects the device icon 501 in the displaystate of the device control screen 502, the device control screen 502corresponding to the device icon 501 can be directly displayed.Therefore, in the case where another device control screen 502 is to bedisplayed while a certain device control screen 502 is displayed, theother device control screen 502 can be displayed with one touchoperation without inputting an operation of erasing the device controlscreen 502 being displayed. This allows the user to smoothly switchbetween the device control screens 502.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of display on the basic screenof the device icons 501 for incommunicable devices 200 that cannot bedetected on the network. The device management section 105 detects adevice 200 that cannot be detected on the network and a device 200 thatdoes not respond to a control command even though registered in thedevice list 3100 as incommunicable devices 200. Then, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the device icons 501 for the incommunicabledevices 200 in a display mode that is different from that for the deviceicons 501 for communicable devices 200.

For example, in FIG. 29, the device icons 501 for the incommunicabledevices 200 are represented as device icons 2601. The device icons 2601are displayed translucently. This allows the user to immediatelyrecognize that the devices 200 indicated by the device icons 2601 arecurrently out of order or cannot be controlled because of occurrence ofa communication failure.

Although the device icons 2601 are displayed translucently in FIG. 29,the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the deviceicons 2601 may be displayed in a fainter color or more darkly than theother device icons 501, or provided with an annotation mark.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the configuration of home information 2700.The home information 2700 is managed by the server 300 for each house,and the home controller 100 controls display on the basic screen, thedevice control screen 502, and so forth on the basis of the homeinformation 2700. As shown in FIG. 30, the home information 2700includes the floor plan 500, vertex information 2800, the roominformation 2900, and a device list 4700 managed by the server.

As shown in FIG. 6, the floor plan 500 is a plan view that is preparedfor each floor of a house and that planarly represents the arrangementand the shape of one or more rooms forming the floor. In the presentdisclosure, the floor plan 500 includes a plan view formed from imagedata represented in a bitmap format, for example.

The vertex information 2800 is information for adapting the floor plan500 to a two-dimensional coordinate-axis space to allow the homecontroller 100 to interpret the floor plan 500. The room information2900 is information for deciding the regions of rooms from the vertexinformation 2800. The vertex information 2800, the room information2900, and the device list 4700 managed by the server will be describedin detail below.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the configuration of the vertex information2800. As shown in FIG. 31, the vertex information 2800 includes a vertexID 2801 and a vertex coordinate 2802. The vertex ID 2801 is anidentifier that identifies a vertex on the floor plan 500. The vertexcoordinate 2802 is a coordinate represented in the format of (Xcoordinate, Y coordinate, floor number), and indicates the position of avertex of a partition line or the like represented on the floor plan500. For example, the vertex with a vertex ID of B has a vertexcoordinate (X20,Y0,Z1), which represents the position on the first floor(the ground floor) with an X coordinate of 20 and a Y coordinate of 0.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the correlation between each vertexregistered in the vertex information 2800 and the floor plan 500. Itshould be noted, however, that in FIG. 33, the upper left vertex of thefloor plan 500 is the origin (with an X coordinate of 0 and a Ycoordinate of 0). For example, the vertex with a vertex ID of A has avertex coordinate (X0,Y0,Z1), and therefore is positioned at the origin.Meanwhile, the vertex with a vertex ID of B has a vertex coordinate(X20,Y0,Z1), and therefore is positioned at the upper right vertex ofthe bath.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the configuration of the room information2900. As shown in FIG. 32, the room information 2900 includes a room ID2901, the room type 2902, and a room coordinate 2903. The room ID 2901is an identifier that identifies a room on the floor plan 500. The roomtype 2902 indicates the type of the room. The room coordinate 2903 isexpressed by a set of the vertex IDs 2801, and decides the region of theroom on the floor plan 500. For example, the room with a room ID of C isthe bath, and indicates a region formed by connecting the vertexes withvertex IDs of A, B, G, and F sequentially in this order on the floorplan 500. The room information 2900 includes not only information on therooms but also information on the staircase. The region with a room IDof D formed by connecting the vertexes with vertex IDs of H, I, R, and Qsequentially in this order represents the staircase.

Consequently, with the vertex information 2800 and the room information2900 provided, the home controller 100 can specify the regions of therooms represented on the floor plan 500 by plotting the vertexesindicated by the vertex information 2800 on the image data for the floorplan 500 and connecting the vertexes indicated by the room coordinate2903, and recognize the type of the rooms from the room type 2902.

The vertex information 2800 may be generated by a system administratorby causing the floor plan 500 to be displayed on a display of a personalcomputer, detecting vertexes from the displayed floor plan, andinputting the vertex ID and the vertex coordinate of the detectedvertexes to the personal computer. The vertex information 2900 may alsobe generated by the system administrator by detecting rooms from thefloor plan displayed on a display, and inputting the room ID, the roomtype, and the room coordinate of the detected rooms to a personalcomputer. Alternatively, the vertex information 2800 and the roominformation 2900 may be generated by taking in CAD data which are theoriginal data for the floor plan 500.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing the configuration of the device list 4700managed by the server 300. As shown in FIG. 34, the device list 4700includes a device ID 4701, a device type 4702, a model number 4703, anarrangement 4704, a capability information 4705, and a control commandtransmission destination 4706.

The device ID 4701 is the identifier of the device 200. The device type4702 indicates the type of the device 200. The model number 4703indicates the model number of the device 200. The arrangement 4704 is acoordinate represented in the format of (X coordinate, Y coordinate,floor number) as with the vertex coordinate 2802, and indicates thearrangement of the device icon 501 corresponding to the device 200 onthe floor plan 500.

The display control section 103 can dispose the device icon 501 on thefloor plan 500 on the basis of the arrangement 4704, and display thebasic screen and so forth. The capability information 4705 indicates thecontent for control of the device 200 and the state that can be acquiredfrom the device 200. For example, the air conditioner with a device IDof A can be controlled for the temperature, the air flow direction, andthe air flow amount. The control command transmission destination 4706indicates the transmission destination of a control command forcontrolling the device 200. For example, the control commandtransmission destination 4706 for the air conditioner with a device IDof A is the device, and therefore a control command is directlytransmitted from the home controller 100 to the device 200. Meanwhile,the control command transmission destination 4706 for the refrigeratorwith a device ID of C is the server, and therefore a control command istransmitted from the home controller 100 to the device 200 via theserver 300. The control command is a command for operating the device200 or confirming the state of the device 200.

The current state of the device 200 may be registered in the device list4700. This allows the server 300 to notify the home controller 100 ofthe state of the relevant device 200 in the case where a request forconfirmation of the state of the device 200 is made from the homecontroller 100.

As discussed above, in order to dispose the device icon 501 on the floorplan 500 on the basis of the actual arrangement of the device 200 withinthe house, the user moves the device icon 501 to an appropriate positionon the floor plan 500. Thus, for the device icon 501 of which thearrangement on the floor plan 500 is not specified by the user, a valuethat indicates an unset arrangement such as (0, 0, 0) is set as thevalue of the arrangement 4704. The display control section 103 displaysthe device icon 501 with the arrangement 4704 unset at a position on thedisplay 101 determined in advance.

The device list 4700 managed by the server may be omitted from the homeinformation 2700. In this case, the home controller 100 may directlyacquire from the device 200 information corresponding to the device type4702, the model number 4703, and the capability information 4705provided in the device list 4700 managed by the server.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing the configuration of the device list 3100managed by the home controller 100. The home controller 100 disposes thedevice icons 501 on the floor plan 500 in the basic screen and controlsthe devices 200 on the basis of information in the device list 3100.

The device list 3100 includes the device ID 3101, the device type 3102,a model number 3103, the arrangement 3104, capability information 3105,a control command transmission destination 3106, and an IP address 3107.The device ID 3101 to the control command transmission destination 3106are the same in content as those with the same name in FIG. 34.

In the device list 3100, the content of the device type 3102, the modelnumber 3103, the arrangement 3104, the capability information 3105, thecontrol command transmission destination 3106 can be acquired by thedevice management section 105 by transmitting the device list 4700 fromthe server 300. The IP address 3107 is acquired from the device 200 bythe device management section 105. It should be noted, however, that thedevice management section 105 may give priority to the content of thedevice type 3102, the model number 3103, the capability information3105, and the control command transmission destination 3106 that can bedirectly acquired from the device 200 in the case where such content isavailable.

The control command transmission destination 3106 may be determined inadvance by the home controller system, may be automatically decided onthe basis of the state of the network to which the home controller 100is connected, or may be set by the user, rather than being acquired fromthe server 300 or the device 200.

Next, the flow of control performed on the device 200 by the homecontroller 100 will be described using the drawings.

FIG. 36 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller 100 to acquire the home information 2700 from the server 300.The home controller 100 acquires the home information 2700 from theserver 300 at desired timing such as when the home controller 100 isinitially utilized or started, and generates the basic screen shown inFIG. 5 on the basis of the acquired home information 2700.

First, the device management section 105 of the home controller 100transmits a home information request to the server 300 (S3201). Here,the home information request includes at least a home controller ID thatindicates a user or a home that utilizes the home controller 100. Thehome information management section 301 of the server 300 which receivesthe home information request searches the storage section 304 for thehome information 2700 corresponding to the home controller ID (S3202),and transmits the home information 2700 to the home controller 100(S3203). The device management section 105 of the home controller 100stores the home information 2700 received from the server 300 in thestorage section 104, and the display control section 103 generates abasic screen on the basis of the home information 2700, and displays thebasic screen on the display 101 (S3204).

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to detect thedevice 200 on the network after the home controller 100 is connected tothe network will be described using FIG. 37.

In FIG. 37, a device A 200 with a device ID of A and a device B 200 of adevice ID of B shown in FIG. 34 are connected to the network.

When the home controller 100 is connected to the network when the homecontroller 100 is initially utilized or turned on (S3301), the devicemanagement section 105 of the home controller 100 broadcasts a devicesearch request to all the devices 200 on the network (S3302). The deviceA 200 which receives the device search request returns a device searchresponse to the home controller 100 (S3303). The home controller 100which receives the device search response acquires device informationfrom the device A 200 (S3304), and updates the display screen (S3305).

Similarly, the device B 200 which receives the device search requestreturns a device search response to the home controller 100 (S3306). Thehome controller 100 which receives the device search response acquiresdevice information from the device B 200 (S3307), and updates thedisplay screen (S3308). Here, the device information is information thatrepresents the device type, the model number, the capabilityinformation, and so forth of the device 200. The device managementsection 105 of the home controller 100 generates the device list 3100(see FIG. 35) on the basis of the device information.

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to detect thedevice 200 on the network when the device 200 is connected to thenetwork will be described using FIG. 38. When the device A 200 isconnected to the network when the device A 200 is initially utilized orturned on (S3401), a network connection notification is broadcast to allthe home controllers 100 on the network (S3402). In the home controller100 which receives the network connection notification, the devicemanagement section 105 acquires device information from the device A 200(S3403), and the display control section 103 updates the display screen(S3404). When the device B 200 is connected to the network, the sameprocess as for the device A 200 is performed (S3405 to S3408).

Here, the update of the display screen of the home controller 100 inFIGS. 37 and 38 (S3305, S3308, S3404, and S3408) will be described. Thehome controller 100 hides the device icon 501 corresponding to thedevice 200 until the device search response or the network connectionnotification is received from the device 200, that is, until the device200 is detected on the network. Then, the home controller 100 whichreceives the device search response displays the device icon 501 for thecorresponding device 200 on the screen. Alternatively, the homecontroller 100 displays the device icon 501 for the undetected device200 in a faint color (for example, translucently) compared to the deviceicon 501 for the detected device 200. Then, the home controller 100which receives the device search response changes the color of thedevice icon 501 for the undetected device 200 to the same color as thecolor of the device icon 501 for the detected device 200.

FIGS. 39A and 39B are each a flowchart showing the flow of a process forthe home controller 100 to control the device 200 according to thepresent disclosure.

First, the touch panel control section 102 senses that the device icon501 representing a certain device 200 is selected by the user on thebasic screen (S3501). Next, the display control section 103 retracts allthe device icons 501 out of the display region of the device controlscreen 502 (S3502). In this case, the device icons 501 are retracted asshown in FIGS. 11 and 13.

Next, the display control section 103 adjusts the display positions ofthe retracted device icons 501 (S3503). For example, the selected deviceicons 501 are adjusted so as to be displayed at particular positions asshown in FIGS. 12 and 14.

Next, the display control section 103 judges whether the device controlscreen 502 corresponding to the device icon 501 selected by the user isa dedicated screen or a floor plan (S3504).

Here, the device control screen 502 which is a dedicated screen refersto the device control screen 502 prepared separately from the floor planand displayed as overlapped on the floor plan as shown in FIG. 13. Onthe other hand, the device control screen 502 which is a floor planrefers to the device control screen 502 which is the floor plan itself.

For example, if the illumination device can be turned on and off oradjusted for the brightness by the user by directly tapping on theregion of a room on the floor plan in which the illumination device isdisposed, the illumination device can be operated with presence. In thecase where the user attempts to operate a plurality of illuminationdevices installed in the living room at the same time, meanwhile, theentire screen is covered by the device control screens 502 dedicated tothe illumination devices if the device control screens 502 dedicated tothe individual illumination devices are displayed on the floor plan atthe same time, which lowers the viewability.

Thus, in the following description, it is assumed that the devicecontrol screen 502 for the illumination device is a floor plan.Specifically, when the user selects the device icon 501 for theillumination device installed in a certain room in the basic screen, allthe device icons 501 are retracted out of the display region of thefloor plan, and the floor plan becomes ready to receive an operation forthe illumination device in the room. Then, when the user taps on theregion of the room on the floor plan in which the selected illuminationdevice is installed, one or more illumination devices within the roomcan be operated at the same time.

For example, when the user taps on the region of a room with theillumination devices in the room turned off, one or more illuminationdevices in the room are turned on at the same time. Next, when the usertaps on the region, the one or more illumination devices are turned offat the same time.

In the case where the device control screen 502 is a floor plan inS3504, and if the region of the room in which the device icon 501 isdisposed is equal to or less than a certain size (YES in S3506), thedisplay control section 103 causes the device control screen 502dedicated to the device in which the region of the room is displayed asenlarged to be displayed as overlapped on the floor plan (S3507). Here,for example, a floor plan formed by clipping the floor plan of therelevant room from the floor plan for the entire floor and enlarging theclipped floor plan is displayed as overlapped on the floor plan for theentire floor.

If the region of the room in which the device icon 501 is disposed isnot equal to or less than the certain size (NO in S3506), on the otherhand, the display control section 103 displays the floor plan as thedevice control screen 502 (S3508).

Information as to whether a dedicated screen or a floor plan is adoptedas the device control screen 502 for each device 200 is stored inadvance in the storage section 104. Thus, the display control section103 may reference the information to determine whether the devicecontrol screen 502 is a dedicated screen or a floor plan.

In addition, the display control section 103 may calculate the size ofthe relevant room by specifying the vertexes of the relevant room fromthe room information 2900, specifying the coordinates of the specifiedvertexes from the vertex information 2800, and calculating the area of aregion surrounded by the specified coordinates of the vertexes. Then,the result of determination in S3506 may be NO if the size of the roomis not equal to or less than the certain size determined in advance, andthe result of determination in S3506 may be YES if the size of the roomis equal to or less than the certain size.

In the case where the device control screen 502 is a dedicated screen inS3504, on the other hand, the display control section 103 displays thededicated screen as overlapped on the floor plan (S3505).

In S3509, the touch panel control section 102 senses that a contactingobject (here, a finger of the user) starts contacting the display 101.

Next, the touch panel control section 102 determines whether or not thecontact target is the device icon 501 (S3510).

If it is determined that the device icon 501 is contacted (YES inS3510), the touch panel control section 102 determines whether or notthe contacting object contacts the same device icon 501 as the deviceicon 501 selected in S3501 (S3511). In the case where it is determinedthat the contacting object contacts the same device icon 501 as thedevice icon 501 selected in S3501 (YES in S3511), the display controlsection 103 hides the device control screen 502 being displayed todisplay the basic screen (S3514).

In the case where the touch panel control section 102 determines thatthe device icon 501 is not contacted (NO in S3510), the touch panelcontrol section 102 further determines whether or not the contact targetis the device control screen 502 (S3512). In the case where it isdetermined that the contact target is not the device control screen 502(NO in S3512), the display control section 103 hides the device controlscreen 502 being displayed, and the basic screen is displayed (S3514).

If the touch panel control section 102 determines that the contactingobject contacts a button or the like within the device control screen502 (YES in S3512), on the other hand, the process is advanced to S3513,where a control flow that is specific to the device is executed (S3513).

Next, the control flow that is specific to the device executed in S3513will be described in detail using FIG. 40. First, the device controlsection 106 decides the content of control that is specific to thedevice in accordance with the content of a contact by the contactingobject (S3601). Next, the device control section 106 generates a controlcommand according to the content of control (S3602). It is assumed thatthe user taps on the button for raising the temperature with the devicecontrol screen 502 for the air conditioner displayed as shown in FIG. 11and the touch panel control section 102 senses the tap. Then, the devicecontrol section 106 generates a control command for raising thetemperature of the air conditioner. Next, the device control section 106advances the process to S3603, where a control command transmission flowis executed.

Next, the control command transmission flow executed in S3603 will bedescribed in detail using FIG. 41. First, the device control section 106determines whether or not the home controller 100 is connected to thehome network (S3701). If the home controller 100 is connected to thehome controller (YES in S3701), the device control section 106 checksthe transmission destination of a control command in accordance with thecontent of the control command transmission destination 3106 of thedevice list 3100 (S3702). Here, the home network is a network providedwithin the home of the user. Thus, the result of determination in S3701is NO if the user operates the home controller 100 from a location awayfrom the home, and the result of determination in S3701 is YES if theuser operates the home controller 100 from a location within the home.

If the transmission destination of a control command is “DEVICE” inS3702, the device control section 106 transmits a control command to therelevant device 200 (S3703). If the transmission destination of acontrol command is “SERVER” in S3702, on the other hand, the devicecontrol section 106 transmits a control command to the server 300(S3704).

For example, in the device list 3100, the control command transmissiondestination 3106 of the air conditioner is “DEVICE”, and therefore thedevice control section 106 transmits a control command to the airconditioner. On the other hand, in the device list 3100, the controlcommand transmission destination 3106 of the refrigerator is “SERVER”,and therefore the device control section 106 transmits a control commandto the server 300.

Meanwhile, in the case where it is judged in S3701 that the homecontroller 100 is not connected to the home network (NO in S3701), theprocess in S3704 is performed.

In S3705, the device control section 106 receives the control resultfrom the device 200. Next, in the case where transmission of a controlcommand to all the devices 200 that are operated at the same time iscompleted (YES in S3706), the device control section 106 advances theprocess to S3707. In the case where transmission of a control command toall the devices 200 that are operated at the same time is not completed(NO in S3706), on the other hand, the device control section 106 returnsthe process to S3702, and repeats the processes in and after S3702.

For example, in the case where two illumination devices are installed inthe same room and the two illumination devices are set in advance to beoperated at the same time, the device control section 106 transmits acontrol command to each of the two illumination devices. The result ofdetermination in S3706 is NO for devices 200 that are not operated atthe same time as other devices 200.

Next, the display control section 103 updates the screen displayed onthe display 101 (S3707). For example, if the set temperature of the airconditioner is changed, the device control screen 502 is updated suchthat the temperature display is flashed on and off, for example, untilthe set temperature of the air conditioner is changed by a controlcommand and the temperature display stops flashing when the settemperature of the air conditioner is changed by a control command. Inthe example of the illumination device, the screen is updated such thatthe region on the floor plan of a room in which the illumination deviceis installed becomes brighter than other regions in the case where theillumination device is turned on.

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to directlycontrol the device 200 will be described using FIG. 42. First, the touchpanel control section 102 of the home controller 100 senses a useroperation on the device control screen 502 (S3801). Next, the devicecontrol section 106 of the home controller 100 generates a controlcommand according to the user operation, and transmits the controlcommand to the device 200 (S3802).

The device 200 which receives the control command executes the controlcommand (S3803), and transmits the control result to the home controller100 (S3804). The display control section 103 of the home controller 100which receives the control result updates the display screen inaccordance with the control result (S3805).

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to control thedevice 200 by way of the server 300 will be described using FIG. 43.First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the device control screen 502 (S3901). Next,the device control section 106 of the home controller 100 generates acontrol command according to the user operation, and transmits thecontrol command to the server 300 (S3902).

The server 300 which receives the control command transmits the relevantcontrol command to the device 200 (S3903). The device 200 which receivesthe control command executes the control command (S3904), and transmitsthe control result to the server 300 (S3905). The server 300 whichreceives the control result transmits the control result to the homecontroller 100 (S3906). The display control section 103 of the homecontroller 100 which receives the control result updates the displayscreen in accordance with the control result (S3907).

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to confirm thedevice state of the device 200 by way of the server 300 will bedescribed using FIG. 44. First, the device 200 transmits the currentdevice state to the server 300 (S4001). Here, the device 200 transmitsthe device state to the server 300 when the device 200 is turned on,when the device 200 is turned off, when the device state is changed, orregularly to cause the server 300 to store the device state. The processin S4001 may be executed asynchronously with the processes in S4002 toS4006.

Next, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the device control screen 502 (S4002). Next,the device control section 106 of the home controller 100 generates acontrol command according to the user operation, and transmits thecontrol command to the server 300 (S4003). Here, a control command forconfirming the device state of the device 200 is generated.

The server 300 which receives the control command searches for thecurrent device state of the relevant device 200 (S4004), and transmitsthe device state of the relevant device 200 to the home controller 100as the control result (S4005). The display control section 103 of thehome controller 100 which receives the control result updates thedisplay screen in accordance with the control result (S4006). Forexample, if the device control screen 502 for the device 200 isdisplayed on the display 101, the content of the device control screen502 for the device 200 is updated in accordance with the control result.

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to directlycontrol the devices 200 in the case where the home controller 100controls a plurality of devices 200 with one operation will be describedusing FIG. 45. Here, a case where the home controller 100 controls thedevice A 200 and the device B 200 is described as an example.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the device control screen 502 (S4101). Next,the device control section 106 of the home controller 100 generates acontrol command according to the user operation, and transmits thecontrol command to the device A 200 (S4102).

The device A 200 which receives the control command executes the controlcommand (S4103), and transmits the control result to the home controller100 (S4104).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100transmits to the device B 200 a control command that is the same as thecontrol command transmitted to the device A 200 (S4105). The device B200 which receives the control command executes the control command(S4106), and transmits the control result to the home controller 100(S4107).

The display control section 103 of the home controller 100 whichreceives the control result updates the display screen in accordancewith the control result (S4108). In this case, for example, if thedevice control screens 502 for the devices A 200 and B 200 are displayedon the display 101, the content of the device control screens 502 forthe devices A 200 and B 200 is updated in accordance with the controlresult.

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to control thedevices 200 by way of the server 300 in the case where the homecontroller 100 controls a plurality of devices 200 with one operationwill be described using FIG. 46. Here, a case where the home controller100 controls the device A 200 and the device B 200 is described as anexample. In addition, it is assumed that the devices A 200 and B 200 arerepresented by one device icon 501, and controlled using one devicecontrol screen 502.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the device control screen 502 (S4201).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the device A 200 according to the useroperation, and transmits the control command to the server 300 (S4202).

The server 300 which receives the control command for the device A 200transmits the control command to the device A 200 (S4203). The device A200 which receives the control command executes the control command(S4204), and transmits the control result to the server 300 (S4205). Theserver 300 which receives the control result transmits the controlresult to the home controller 100 (S4206).

Similarly, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the device B 200 according to the useroperation, and transmits the control command to the server 300 (S4207).

The server 300 which receives the control command transmits the controlcommand to the device B 200 (S4208). The device B 200 which receives thecontrol command executes the control command (S4209), and transmits thecontrol result to the server 300 (S4210). The server 300 which receivesthe control result transmits the control result to the home controller100 (S4211).

Then, the display control section 103 of the home controller 100 updatesthe display screen in accordance with the control result (S4212).

Next, the flow of a process for the home controller 100 to control thedevices 200 by way of the server 300 in the case where the homecontroller 100 controls a plurality of devices 200 with one operationwill be described using FIG. 47. Here, a case where the home controller100 controls the device A 200 and the device B 200 is described as anexample. In addition, it is assumed that the devices A 200 and B 200 arerepresented by one device icon 501, and controlled using one devicecontrol screen 502.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the device control screen 502 (S4301).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the device A 200 and the device B 200 inaccordance with the user operation, and transmits the control command tothe server 300 (S4302).

The server 300 which receives the control command transmits the controlcommand to the device A 200 (S4303). The device A 200 which receives thecontrol command executes the control command (S4304), and transmits thecontrol result to the server 300 (S4305).

Similarly, the server 300 transmits the control command to the device B200 (S4306). The device B 200 which receives the control commandexecutes the control command (S4307), and transmits the control resultto the server 300 (S4308). The server 300 which receives the controlresult for the device A 200 and the device B 200 transmits the controlresult to the home controller 100 (S4309).

Then, the display control section 103 of the home controller 100 updatesthe display screen in accordance with the control result (S4310).

Next, the flow of a process for a case where the device icon 501 ismoved in the home controller 100 will be described using FIG. 48. Here,it is assumed that the user owns two home controllers A 100 and B 100.

When the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller A 100senses movement of the device icon 501 (S4801), the display controlsection 103 updates the display screen (S4802). Here, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the device icon 501 moved in accordancewith the amount of a drag performed on the device icon 501 by the user.

The device management section 105 of the home controller A 100 transmitsto the server 300 a device list update notification including thecoordinate on the floor plan 500 after the drag (S4803). Here, thedevice management section 105 of the home controller A 100 updates thecontent of the arrangement 3104 of the relevant device 200 in the devicelist 3100 managed by the device management section 105 itself with thecoordinate after the drag.

The server 300 which receives the device list update notificationupdates the device list 4700 (S4804). In this case, the home informationmanagement section 301 of the server 300 updates the content of thearrangement 4704 of the relevant device 200 in the device list 4700 withthe coordinate included in the device list update notification.

Subsequently, the server 300 transmits the device list updatenotification to the home controller B 100 (S4805). The home controller B100 which receives the device list update notification updates thedisplay screen (S4806). Here, the device management section 105 of thehome controller B 100 updates the content of the arrangement 3104 of therelevant device 200 in the device list 3100 managed by the devicemanagement section 105 itself with the coordinate included in the devicelist update notification.

The device icon 501 is disposed at an appropriate position on the floorplan 500 through the process described above. Because the homecontroller B 100 is notified of the update of the arrangement positionof the device icon 501 performed by the home controller A 100 by way ofthe server 300, the arrangement position of the device icon 501 afterthe update is shared among the home controllers A 100 and B 100 and theserver 300. Therefore, it is possible to avoid trouble in which thearrangement position of the device icon 501 is different between thehome controller A 100 and the home controller B 100.

Next, an example of a process for updating the device lists of the homecontroller 100 and the server 300 will be described using FIG. 49. Thedevice 200 transmits the device state indicating the current state ofthe device 200 itself to the server 300 (S4901). Here, the device 200may regularly transmit the device state, or may transmit the devicestate when the state is varied. The server 300 updates the device list4700 in accordance with the content of the received device state(S4902). Here, in the case where the device list 4700 does not containinformation on the device 200, the server 300 adds information on thedevice 200 as a new device. Then, the server 300 transmits a device listupdate notification to the home controller 100 (S4903). The devicemanagement section 105 of the home controller 100 updates the devicelist 3100 in accordance with the content of the received device listupdate notification (S4904). Here, in the case where the device list3100 does not contain information on the device 200, the devicemanagement section 105 adds information on the device 200 as a newdevice. Then, the display control section 103 of the home controller 100updates the display screen (S4905).

Consequently, the server 300 is notified of variation in state of thedevice 200, which allows the server 300 to monitor variation in state ofthe device 200. The server 300 to which the device state is transmittedfrom the device 200 notifies the home controller 100 of variation instate of the device 200, which allows the home controller 100 torecognize the current state of the device 200. In the case where a newdevice 200 is connected to the home network, the server 300 and the homecontroller 100 can add the new device. Hence, it is possible to preventoccurrence of deviation between the actual state of the device 200 andthe state of the device 200 recognized by the home controller 100.

Next, another example of the process for updating the device lists ofthe home controller 100 and the server 300 will be described using FIG.50. The device 200 transmits the device state to the home controller 100(S5001). Here, the device 200 may regularly transmit the device state,or may transmit the device state when the state is varied.

The device management section 105 of the home controller 100 updates thedevice list 3100 in accordance with the content of the received devicestate (S5002). Here, in the case where the device list 3100 does notcontain information on the device 200, the device management section 105adds information on the device 200 as a new device. Then, the displaycontrol section 103 updates the display screen (S5003). Then, the devicemanagement section 105 of the home controller 100 transmits a devicelist update notification to the server 300 (S5004). The server 300updates the device list 4700 in accordance with the received device listupdate notification (S5005). Here, in the case where the device list4700 does not contain information on the device 200, the server 300 addsinformation on the device 200 as a new device.

Next, still another example of a process in which the home controller100 and the server 300 update the device list will be described usingFIG. 51. In FIG. 51, a case where the user owns two home controllers100, namely an in-home home controller 100 and an out-home homecontroller 100, is described as an example. Here, the out-home homecontroller 100 is a home controller 100 taken away from the home by theuser, and the in-home home controller 100 is a home controller 100 keptat the home by the user.

The device 200 transmits the device state to the in-home home controller100 (S5101). The in-home home controller 100 updates the device list3100 in accordance with the content of the received device state(S5102). Here, in the case where the device list 3100 does not containinformation on the device 200, the device management section 105 addsinformation on the device 200 as a new device. Then, the display screenis updated (S5103). Then, the in-home home controller 100 transmits adevice list update notification to the server 300 (S5104).

The server 300 updates the device list 4700 in accordance with thecontent of the received device list update notification (S5105). Here,in the case where the device list 4700 does not contain information onthe device 200, the server 300 adds information on the device 200 as anew device. Then, the server 300 transmits a device list updatenotification to the out-home home controller 100 (S5106). The out-homehome controller 100 updates the device list 3100 in accordance with thecontent of the received device list update notification (S5107). Here,in the case where the device list 3100 does not contain information onthe device 200, the device management section 105 of the out-home homecontroller 100 adds information on the device 200 as a new device. Then,the display screen is updated (S5108).

According to the example, even in the case where one home controller 100is located away from the home and the other home controller 100 islocated in the home, it is possible to prevent occurrence of deviationbetween the states of the device 200 recognized by the two homecontrollers 100.

The sequences and the process flows described above are merelyexemplary, and the order of the steps may be changed and some of thesteps may be omitted as long as the intended process may be embodied.For example, a control command may be transmitted to the device A 200and the device B 200 asynchronously.

In the foregoing description, a plan view that planarly represents theposition and the shape of rooms forming each floor is adopted as thefloor plan 500. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto,and a diagram that schematically shows how many rooms of what type arelocated on each floor may be adopted as the floor plan.

Floor plans in other patterns will be specifically described below. FIG.52 is a diagram showing a floor plan 5200 in another pattern. In thefloor plan 5200, rooms forming one floor are each represented by onerectangular block, and the rooms on the one floor are disposed in amatrix. The blocks have the same size, and are each provided with thename of the room.

In the floor plan 5200, the name and the number of the rooms formingeach floor are indicated, but the relative size and the position in thefloor of the rooms are not represented. In the present disclosure, sucha diagram is treated as the floor plan 5200. That is, in the presentdisclosure, any diagram that represents at least what rooms are providedon each floor are treated as the floor plan.

For example, it is seen that a floor plan 5201 for the first floorincludes rooms such as a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, a bath,a lavatory, a toilet, a staircase, and a hallway. Meanwhile, it is seenthat a floor plan 5202 for the second floor includes rooms such as amain bedroom, a bedroom 1, a bedroom 2, a child's room, and a staircase.

The user can drag and move a desired room on the floor plan 5200 tochange the position of the room on the floor plan 5200. In the casewhere a large number of devices 200 are disposed within a room and allthe device icons 501 cannot be displayed within the room on the floorplan 5200 using a default room size, the display control section 103 mayincrease the size of the room such that all the device icons 501 can beaccommodated within the room.

FIG. 53 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan 5200. The floor plan 5200 is displayed on thebasic screen. In addition, the device icons 501 for the devices 200actually disposed are displayed within each room.

For example, the device icons 501 for the television set and theillumination device are displayed in the living room, and therefore itis seen that the television set and the illumination device areinstalled in the living room.

The device list display change button 503 is a button for switching thescreen display from the basic screen to the device list display screendiscussed earlier (see FIG. 24).

FIG. 54 is a diagram showing the display state of the device controlscreen 502 for a case where the floor plan 5200 shown in FIG. 52 isadopted. In the basic screen shown in FIG. 53, when the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses that the user selects the device icon 501,the display control section 103 causes the display 101 to display thedevice control screen 502 corresponding to the selected device icon 501.In FIG. 54, the device icon 501 for the air conditioner is selected, andtherefore the device control screen 502 for the air conditioner isdisplayed as overlapped on the floor plan 5200.

In displaying the device control screen 502, the display control section103 disposes the device icons 501 displayed on the floor plan 5200outside the display region of the device control screen 502. In theexample of FIG. 54, all the device icons 501 are disposed in onevertical line on the left side of the floor plan 5200.

In disposing the device icons 501 in one vertical line on the left sideof the floor plan 5200, the display control section 103 may group thedevice icons 501 under particular conditions. For example, the deviceicons 501 may be grouped in accordance with the room, may be grouped inaccordance with the type of the device 200, or may be grouped inaccordance with the category based on the type of the device 200.

In the example of FIG. 54, the device icons 501 are disposed on the leftside of the floor plan 5200. However, the device icons 501 may bedisposed in one vertical line on the right side of the floor plan 5200,or may be disposed in one horizontal line on the upper or lower side ofthe floor plan 5200.

In the case where all the device icons 501 cannot be displayed on theleft side of the floor plan 5200, the display control section 103 mayscroll the device icons 501 upward or downward in accordance with aswipe operation performed upward or downward on the device icons 501disposed in one line on the left side to cause the device icons 501,which have been hidden, to be displayed within the display 101.

In disposing the device icons 501 in one vertical line on the left sideof the floor plan 5200, the display control section 103 may display thedevice icon 501 selected by the user in a display mode that is differentfrom that for the unselected device icons 501. For example, the selecteddevice icon 501 may be displayed in a color that is different from thatof the unselected device icons 501, may be displayed more brightly thanthe unselected device icons 501, may be displayed more densely than theunselected device icons 501, or may be flashed on and off at a constantcycle.

The display control section 103 may scroll an array of the device icons501 such that the device icon 501 selected by the user is positioned ata conspicuous position (for example, the top, middle, or bottomposition) in the line of icons.

In displaying the device control screen 502, the display control section103 may dispose all the device icons 501 on the outer periphery of anellipse as shown in FIG. 12.

Next, transition between the display state of the basic screen and thedisplay state of the device control screen 502 will be described usingFIG. 55.

In the basic screen shown in the left diagram of FIG. 55, the userselects the device icon 501 for the device 200 (here, the airconditioner) that is desired to be controlled, and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection. Then, as shown in the rightdiagram of FIG. 55, the display control section 103 displays the devicecontrol screen 502 corresponding to the selected device icon 501 asoverlapped on the floor plan 5200. This results in transition from thedisplay state of the basic screen to the display state of the devicecontrol screen 502.

On the other hand, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 55, in thedisplay state of the device control screen 502, the user selects thedevice icon 501 for the air conditioner corresponding to the devicecontrol screen 502 or a location outside the display region of thedevice control screen 502 (for example, the display region of the floorplan 5200 outside the display region of the device control screen 502),and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, asshown in the left diagram of FIG. 55, the display control section 103erases the device control screen 502, and returns from the display stateof the device control screen 502 to the display state of the basicscreen.

FIG. 56 is a diagram showing the configuration of a floor plan 5600 fora case where the size of each block is varied in accordance with theactual room size in the floor plan 5200 shown in FIG. 52.

In the left diagram of FIG. 56, a floor plan 5601 for the first floor isshown. In the right diagram of FIG. 56, a floor plan 5602 for the secondfloor is shown.

In the floor plan 5601 for the first floor, the living room is thelargest in terms of the room size, and is followed by the kitchen, thebath, and the staircase. Therefore, the sizes of the rooms are displayedin this order. Also in the floor plan 5602 for the second floor, therooms are represented in accordance with the actual room size. In thiscase, information that indicates the actual room size may be registeredin advance in room information 6800 to be discussed later, and thedisplay control section 103 may decide the size of each room inaccordance with the information.

FIG. 57 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan 5600 shown in FIG. 56. In the floor plan 5600,each room is displayed with a size matching the actual size. Inaddition, the device icons 501 for the devices 200 actually disposed aredisplayed in each room.

In the case where the mode in which each room is represented with a sizematching the actual room size on the floor plan 5600 is adopted,displaying all the rooms within the display 101 may result in smalldisplay of the rooms to make a user operation difficult. Thus, a roomdisplay button 5603 with a text “DISPLAY OTHER ROOMS” is provided inFIG. 57.

When the user selects the room display button and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection, the display control section103 switches the screen display to the floor plan 5600 which displaysthe remaining rooms.

In the example of FIG. 57, the floor plan 5600 is partitioned into thefloor plan 5601 for the first floor and the floor plan 5602 for thesecond floor. Therefore, when the room display button 5603 is selected,the display control section 103 switches display on the display 101 tothe floor plan 5602 for the second floor. In this case, the room displaybutton 5603 is also provided on the floor plan 5602 for the secondfloor. Therefore, when the room display button 5603 is selected, thedisplay control section 103 switches display on the display 101 to thefloor plan 5601 for the first floor.

Although the floor plan is provided for each floor in the example ofFIG. 57, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, inthe case where the floor plan 5601 for the first floor cannot bedisplayed on the display 101 at the same time, the display controlsection 103 may divide the floor plan 5601 for the first floor, anddisplay a divided portion of the floor plan 5601 on the display 101. Inthis case, when the room display button 5603 is selected, a hiddenportion of the floor plan 5601 for the first floor may be displayed.

In the case where the floor plan 5601 for the first floor and the floorplan 5602 for the second floor can be displayed on the display 101 atthe same time, the display control section 103 may display the floorplan 5601 for the first floor and the floor plan 5602 for the secondfloor on the display 101 at the same time. In this case, the roomdisplay button 5603 is omitted from the floor plan 5600.

In the case where the staircase is tapped on on the floor plan 5600, thedisplay control section 103 may switch between the floor plan 5601 forthe first floor and the floor plan 5602 for the second floor.

FIG. 58 is a diagram showing the display state of the device controlscreen 502 for a case where the floor plan 5600 shown in FIG. 56 isadopted as the floor plan. In FIG. 58, as in FIG. 54, the device controlscreen 502 for the air conditioner is displayed. FIG. 58 is otherwisethe same as FIG. 54, and therefore is not described.

FIG. 59 is a diagram showing a floor plan 5900 in still another patternaccording to the present disclosure. The floor plan 5900 of FIG. 59 isthe same as the floor plan 5200 in that rooms are represented by blocksof the same size, but is different from the floor plan 5200 inarrangement of the rooms. Specifically, in the floor plan 5900, thefloor numbers are displayed in the vertical direction, and the roomsforming the same floor are arranged in one horizontal line. In theexample of FIG. 59, the house has three floors, namely the first floorto the third floor, and therefore the rooms forming the third floor aredisposed in the first line, the rooms forming the second floor aredisposed in the second line, and the rooms forming the first floor aredisposed in the third line. The floor number such as 1F, 2F, and 3F isindicated at the left end of each line. It is seen at a glance from thefloor plan 5900 on which floor each room is disposed.

Also in the floor plan 5900, the size of each room may be varied inaccordance with the actual room size. In the floor plan 5900, inaddition, in the case where all the rooms cannot be displayed within thedisplay region of the display 101, the floor plan 5900 may be scrolledin the horizontal direction so that a desired room can be displayed onthe display 101.

For example, in the case where there are further rooms on the secondfloor, when the touch panel control section 102 senses that the userperforms a swipe operation from the left to the right, the displaycontrol section 103 may scroll the rooms forming the second floor, orthe rooms forming the first floor to the third floor, from the left tothe right in accordance with the amount of the swipe operation.

FIG. 60 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen thatadopts the floor plan 5900 shown in FIG. 59. The floor plan 5900 isdisplayed on the basic screen. In addition, the device icons 501 for thedevices 200 actually disposed are displayed within each room. The devicelist display change button 503 is a button for switching the screendisplay from the basic screen to the device list display screendiscussed earlier (see FIG. 24).

FIG. 61 is a diagram showing the display state of the device controlscreen 502 for a case where the floor plan 5900 shown in FIG. 59 isadopted. In the basic screen shown in FIG. 60, when the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses that the user selects the device icon 501,the display control section 103 causes the display 101 to display thedevice control screen 502 corresponding to the selected device icon 501.In FIG. 61, the device icon 501 for the air conditioner is selected, andtherefore the device control screen 502 for the air conditioner isdisplayed as overlapped on the floor plan 5900. In displaying the devicecontrol screen 502, the display control section 103 disposes the deviceicons 501 displayed on the floor plan 5900 outside the display region ofthe device control screen 502. In the example of FIG. 61, all the deviceicons 501 are disposed in one horizontal line on the lower side of thefloor plan 5900.

In disposing the device icons 501 in one vertical line on the lower sideof the floor plan 5900, the display control section 103 may group thedevice icons 501 under particular conditions. For example, the deviceicons 501 may be grouped in accordance with the room, may be grouped inaccordance with the type of the device 200, or may be grouped inaccordance with the category based on the type of the device 200.

In the example of FIG. 61, the device icons 501 are disposed on thelower side of the floor plan 5900. However, the device icons 501 may bedisposed in one horizontal line on the upper side of the floor plan5900, or may be disposed in one vertical line on the left or right sideof the floor plan 5900.

In the case where all the device icons 501 cannot be disposed on thelower side of the floor plan 500, the display control section 103 mayscroll the device icons 501 leftward or rightward in accordance with aswipe operation performed leftward or rightward on the device icons 501disposed in one horizontal line on the lower side to cause the deviceicons 501, which have been hidden, to be displayed within the display101.

In disposing the device icons 501 in one horizontal line on the lowerside of the floor plan 5900, the display control section 103 may displaythe device icon 501 selected by the user in a display mode that isdifferent from that for the unselected device icons 501. For example,the selected device icon 501 may be displayed in a color that isdifferent from that of the unselected device icons 501, may be displayedmore brightly than the unselected device icons 501, may be displayedmore densely than the unselected device icons 501, or may be flashed onand off at a constant cycle.

The display control section 103 may scroll an array of the device icons501 such that the device icon 501 selected by the user is positioned ata conspicuous position (for example, the leftmost, middle, or rightmostposition) in the line of icons.

In displaying the device control screen 502, the display control section103 may dispose all the device icons 501 on the outer periphery of anellipse as shown in FIG. 12.

In the floor plan 5900, the rooms on all the floors are displayed on thedisplay 101 at the same time, which may result in small display of therooms to make a user operation difficult. Thus, the display controlsection 103 may display the floor plan 5900 as enlarged in accordancewith the user operation. Specifically, when the user performs anoperation of pinching out on a certain room in the floor plan 5900 andthe touch panel control section 102 senses the operation, the displaycontrol section 103 may display the room on the display 101 as enlargedat an enlargement scale matching the amount of the pinch out.

FIG. 62 is a diagram showing a floor plan that displays a certain roomin the floor plan 5900 as enlarged. As shown in FIG. 62, the displaycontrol section 103 may display a plan view that planarly represents theshape of the relevant room as overlapped on the floor plan 5900.Alternatively, the display control section 103 may switch to displayingthe plan view. This allows the user to grasp the configuration of therooms in the house and the devices 200 disposed in each room on thefloor plan 5900 shown in FIG. 60, and to grasp the actual arrangementposition of the devices 200 in the enlarged room on the floor plan 5900shown in FIG. 62.

In the floor plan 5900 not displayed as enlarged shown in FIG. 60, it isnot necessary for the display control section 103 to display the deviceicons 501 for all the devices 200 disposed within the rooms, and thedisplay control section 103 may display only some of the device icons501.

In this case, the display control section 103 may display one or aplurality of (for example, two) device icons 501 frequently used by theuser on the floor plan 5900. Alternatively, the display control section103 may not display the device icons 501 on the floor plan 5900 notdisplayed as enlarged. This prevents the viewability of the floor plan5900 from being lowered because of an increased number of the deviceicons 501 displayed on the floor plan 5900 not displayed as enlarged.

FIG. 63 is a diagram showing the display state of the device controlscreen 502 in the floor plan 5900 displayed as enlarged shown in FIG.62. In FIG. 63, as in FIG. 54, the device control screen 502 for the airconditioner is displayed. In FIG. 63, only the device icons 501 disposedin the room (living room) displayed as enlarged are displayed on theleft side of the plan view and in the block of the living room. In theexample of FIG. 62, the device icons 501 for the air conditioner, theillumination device, and the television set are displayed in the livingroom within the plan view, and the device icon 501 for the airconditioner is selected by the user. Therefore, the device icons 501 aredisplayed in one vertical line on the left side of the plan view.

In the case where a certain room is displayed as enlarged, it is highlylikely that the user operates the device 200 disposed within the room.In the case where a certain room is displayed as enlarged, in addition,the device icons 501 for devices in the other rooms are not displayed onthe display 101. Therefore, if the device icons 501 for devices disposedin the other rooms are displayed on the left side of the plan view whenthe user selects a certain device icon 501, the user may be given asense of wrongness.

Thus, in the case where a certain room is displayed as enlarged, thedisplay control section 103 causes only the device icons 501 for thedevices 200 disposed in the room to be displayed in one vertical line onthe left side of the plan view. In the example of FIG. 64, the deviceicons 501 are displayed on the left side of the plan view. However, thedevice icons 501 may be displayed in one vertical line on the right sideof the plan view, or may be displayed in one horizontal line on theupper or lower side of the plan view.

FIG. 64 is a diagram showing screen transition from the display state ofthe basic screen to the display state of the device control screen 502.It is assumed that the user taps on the device icon 501 for the airconditioner, for example, in the basic screen which displays the floorplan 5900 not displayed as enlarged as shown in the upper left diagramof FIG. 64. Then, as shown in the upper right diagram of FIG. 64, thedisplay control section 103 displays the device control screen 502 forthe air conditioner as overlapped on the basic screen. In the screenshown in the upper right diagram of FIG. 64, on the other hand, when theuser taps on a region on the floor plan 5900 other than the devicecontrol screen 502 or taps on the device icon 501 for the airconditioner, the display control section 103 returns the screen displayto the basic screen shown in the upper left diagram of FIG. 64.

It is assumed that the user pinches out on the living room in the basicscreen shown in the upper left diagram of FIG. 64. Then, as shown in thelower left diagram of FIG. 64, the display control section 103 enlargesthe block of the living room, and at the same time displays the planview of the living room having a size matching the size of the enlargedblock as overlapped on the enlarged block. It is assumed that the userpinches in on the living room in the lower left diagram of FIG. 64.Then, the display control section 103 returns the screen display to thebasic screen shown in the upper left diagram of FIG. 64.

When the device icon 501 for the air conditioner, for example, isselected in the basic screen shown in the lower left diagram of FIG. 64,the display control section 103 displays the device control screen 502for the air conditioner as overlapped on the plan view as shown in thelower right diagram of FIG. 64. In the lower right diagram of FIG. 64,when the user taps on a region on the floor plan 5900 other than thedevice control screen 502 or on the device icon 501 for the airconditioner, the display control section 103 returns the screen displayto the screen shown in the lower left diagram of FIG. 64.

FIG. 65 is a diagram showing the configuration of a basic screen 5900which adopts the floor plan shown in FIG. 59 and in which device icons501 are not displayed. In the mode shown in FIG. 65, only rooms formingeach floor are displayed, and the device icons 501 are not displayed.

FIG. 66 is a diagram showing screen transition from the display state ofthe basic screen to the display state of the device control screen 502for a case where the basic screen in which device icons 501 are notdisplayed is adopted. It is assumed that the user pinches out on theliving room, for example, in the basic screen shown in the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 66. Then, as shown in the lower left diagram of FIG. 66,the display control section 103 displays the block of the living room asenlarged, and displays the plan view of the living room as overlapped onthe block displayed as enlarged. It is assumed that the user taps on thedevice icon 501 for the air conditioner, for example, in the screenshown in the lower left diagram of FIG. 66. Then, as shown in the lowerright diagram of FIG. 66, the display control section 103 displays thedevice control screen 502 for the air conditioner as overlapped on theplan view of the living room, and disposes the device icons 501 for theliving room in one vertical line on the left side of the plan view ofthe living room. In the lower right diagram of FIG. 66, when the usertaps on a region on the floor plan 5900 and outside the display regionof the device control screen 502, the display control section 103returns the display screen to the screen shown in the lower left diagramof FIG. 66.

FIG. 67 is a diagram showing the configuration of the home information2700 for a case where the floor plan 5200 shown in FIG. 52 is adopted.As shown in FIG. 67, the home information 6400 includes the floor plan5200, the room information 6800, and the device list 4700 managed by theserver. In the floor plan 5200, the display positions of the rooms aredetermined in advance. Therefore, the vertex information 2800 includedin the home information 2700 is omitted from the home information 6400.

The floor plan 5200 is image data obtained by representing the floorplan 5200 shown in FIG. 52 in a bitmap format, for example.Alternatively, the floor plan 5200 may be information that prescribesthe color, the shape, the size, and so forth for displaying the floorplan 5200. The room information 6800 is information for deciding theregions of rooms from the floor plan 5200.

FIG. 68 is a diagram showing the configuration of room information 6800shown in FIG. 67. As shown in FIG. 68, the room information 6800includes a room ID 6801, a room type 6802, a floor level 6803, and adisplay position 6804. The room ID 6801 is an identifier that identifiesa room on the floor plan 5200. The room type 6802 indicates the type ofthe room. The floor level 6803 indicates the floor level (floor) onwhich the room is disposed. The display position 6804 indicates thearrangement position of the room on the floor plan 5200.

FIG. 69 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence betweenthe display position 6804 in the room information 6800 and the floorplan 5200. As shown in FIG. 69, the order of the blocks on the floorplan 5200 is prescribed such that the block in the first row and thefirst column corresponds to the first cell, the block in the first rowand the second column corresponds to the second cell, the block in thefirst row and the third column corresponds to the third cell, the blockin the second row and the first column corresponds to the fourth cell,and so forth.

For example, the room with a room ID 6801 of A has a display position6804 of “FIRST CELL ON FIRST FLOOR”. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 69, thedisplay control section 103 interprets the block in the first cell (inthe first row and the first column) on the floor plan 5201 for the firstfloor as the living room.

In the example of FIG. 69, the blocks are disposed in three horizontallines, and therefore the cell in the second row and the first columncorresponds to the fourth cell, and the cell in the third row and thefirst column corresponds to the seventh cell. It should be noted,however, that this is merely exemplary. For example, in the case wherethe cells are arranged in four columns in the horizontal direction, thecorrelation between the order of the cells and the arrangement positionsof the blocks is changed as appropriate in accordance with the number ofblocks in the horizontal direction, and the cell in the second row andthe first column corresponds to the fifth cell, and the cell in thethird row and the first column corresponds to the ninth cell.

FIG. 70 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list 4700managed by the server 300 for a case where the floor plan 5200 shown inFIG. 52 is adopted. It is not necessary for the floor plan 5200 toindicate the arrangement position of the device 200 in the room.Therefore, in the device list 4700 shown in FIG. 70, unlike FIG. 34, theroom type 6802 is registered in the arrangement 4704. The device list4700 shown in FIG. 70 is otherwise the same as the device list 4700shown in FIG. 34. For example, the air conditioner with a device ID 4701of A is disposed in the living room, and therefore “LIVING ROOM” isregistered in the arrangement 4704. In the example of FIG. 70, the roomtype 6802 is adopted as the arrangement 4704. However, any otherinformation that specifies a room may be registered. For example, theroom ID 6801 may be adopted as the arrangement 4704.

FIG. 71 is a diagram showing the configuration of a device list 3100managed by the home controller 100 for a case where the floor plan 5200shown in FIG. 52 is adopted. Also in the device list 3100 of FIG. 71,for the same reason as that for the device list 4700 of FIG. 70, theroom type 6802 is registered in the arrangement 3104. The device list3100 of FIG. 71 is otherwise the same as the device list 3100 shown inFIG. 35. Also in FIG. 71, the room ID 6801 may be adopted as thearrangement 3104.

Next, the device list 3100 for a case where the plan view of a certainroom is displayed in the case where a pinch-out operation is performedon the room on the basic screen of the floor plan 5900 as shown in FIG.62 will be described. In this case, the room information 6800 shown inFIG. 68 may include an item of the plan view of the room. Then, imagedata for the plan view of the relevant room may be registered in theitem of the plan view of the room. For the plan view of the room, asshown in FIG. 33, the origin may be set at the left end of the room, forexample, the X axis and the Y axis may be set in the horizontaldirection and the vertical direction, respectively, and the position ofthe room may be represented by the X and Y coordinates.

Meanwhile, not only the room type 6802 but also the coordinate in theroom is registered in the arrangement 3104 of the device list 3100 shownin FIG. 71. This allows the display control section 103 to discriminatefrom the content of the arrangement 3104 at what position on the planview representing the room the device icon 501 is to be disposed.

In the present disclosure, the server 300 is not an essentialconstituent element, and various types of information managed by theserver 300 (such as the home information 2700 and the state of thedevices 200) may be managed by the home controller 100. This allows thepresent disclosure described above to be embodied without the server300. In this case, it is not necessary for the home controller 100 tomanage information on the entire house, and it is only necessary tomanage information related to the devices 200 controlled by the homecontroller 100 and the house in which the devices 200 are disposed.

(Control of Illumination Device)

An embodiment in which the type of the target device is not limited hasbeen described above. An embodiment in which the target device is anillumination device will be described in detail below.

(Control Screen for Illumination Device)

FIG. 72 is a diagram showing an example of a control screen for anillumination device displayed on the display 101 of the home controller100. FIGS. 73 and 74 are each a diagram showing an example of transitionof the display screen on the display 101 of the home controller 100between the basic screen and the control screen for the illuminationdevice. FIG. 73 shows a case where the illumination device is turned on.FIG. 74 shows a case where the illumination device is turned off.

As shown in the left diagram of FIG. 73, for example, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the basic screen including the floor plan500, the device icons 501, and so forth on the display 101 of the homecontroller 100. In this display state, the user taps on a device icon10201 (corresponding to an example of the illumination icon according toan aspect of the present disclosure) for an illumination device disposedin a room 10200 in which the illumination device is installed to selectthe device icon 10201, and the touch panel control section 102 sensesthe tap (selection). Then, as shown in FIG. 72, the display controlsection 103 displays a control screen 10100 for the illumination deviceon the display 101.

In the control for the illumination device, as shown in FIG. 72, thefloor plan 500 and the control screen 10100 for the illumination devicehave the same display content as each other. In other words, when theuser selects the device icon 10201 for the illumination device, thefloor plan 500 also functions as the control screen 10100 for theillumination device.

In FIGS. 72 to 74, the device icon 10201 for the illumination devicedisposed in the room 10200 in which the illumination device is installedis selected by the user, and the selection is sensed by the touch panelcontrol section 102. As a result, the display control section 103displays the control screen 10100 for the illumination device on thedisplay 101. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 72 to 74, a control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device included in the control screen10100 for the illumination device is a region corresponding to the room10200 in which the illumination device is installed.

In the display state of the basic screen (for example, the left diagramof FIG. 73), the user selects the device icon 10201 for the illuminationdevice, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, as described above, the display control section 103 retracts thedevice icons 501 out of the display region of the control screen 10100for the illumination device (the floor plan 500) as shown in the rightdiagram of FIG. 73 or FIG. 72. In the example of FIG. 72, the deviceicons 501 are arranged in one vertical line at the left end within thedisplay screen on the display 101 so as to avoid the display region ofthe floor plan 500. In the example of FIG. 72, in addition, the deviceicon 10201 for the illumination device selected by the user is displayedat the middle of the line of the device icons 501.

In the example of FIG. 72, the selected device icon 10201 for theillumination device is displayed as distinguished from the unselecteddevice icons by being surrounded with a thick frame, for example. Themode in which the selected device icon 10201 for the illumination deviceis displayed as distinguished from the unselected device icons is notlimited to being surrounded by a thick frame. As described above, thedisplay control section 103 may adopt a variety of modes such as a modein which the selected device icon 10201 for the illumination device isdisplayed in a color that is different from that of the unselecteddevice icons, more brightly than the unselected device icons, or thelike.

Then, in the case where the illumination device in the room 10200 inwhich the illumination device is installed is turned on when the controlscreen 10100 for the illumination device is displayed, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the control target region 10101 for theillumination device brightly with brightness (in the case of 8 bits, forexample, a signal level of 192) not less than specific brightness (inthe case of 8 bits, for example, a signal level of 128) as shown in theright diagram of FIG. 73. In this display state, the user taps on thedevice icon 10201 for the illumination device or a location outside thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device (for example,the display region of the floor plan 500 outside the display region ofthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device), and thetouch panel control section 102 senses the tap (selection). Then, thedisplay control section 103 returns the display screen on the display101 to the display state of the basic screen (the left diagram of FIG.73).

In the case where the illumination device in the room 10200 in which theillumination device is installed is turned off when the control screen10100 for the illumination device is displayed, on the other hand, thedisplay control section 103 displays the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device darkly with brightness (in the case of 8 bits,for example, a signal level of 64) less than the specific brightness asshown in the right diagram of FIG. 74. In this display state, the userselects the device icon 10201 for the illumination device or a locationoutside the control target region 10101 for the illumination device (forexample, the display region of the floor plan 500 outside the displayregion of the control target region 10101 for the illumination device),and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, thedisplay control section 103 returns the display screen on the display101 to the display state of the basic screen (the left diagram of FIG.74).

FIG. 75 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100 between the controlscreen for the illumination device for a case where the illuminationdevice is turned on and the control screen for the illumination devicefor a case where the illumination device is turned off.

As described above, in the case where the illumination device in theroom is turned on, the control screen for the illumination device isdisplayed on the display 101 with the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device displayed brightly with brightness not less thanthe specific brightness as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 75. Whenthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device is selectedin this display state, the illumination device in the room is turnedoff, and the display screen on the display 101 transitions to a displaystate in which the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice is displayed darkly with brightness less than the specificbrightness as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 75.

When the control target region 10101 for the illumination device isselected with the display screen on the display 101 in the display stateshown in the right diagram of FIG. 75, on the other hand, theillumination device in the room is turned on, and the display screen onthe display 101 transitions to a display state in which the controltarget region 10101 for the illumination device is displayed brightlywith brightness not less than the specific brightness as shown in theleft diagram of FIG. 75.

FIG. 76 is a diagram collectively showing an example of transition ofthe display screen on the display 101 of the home controller 100 amongthe basic screen, the control screen for the illumination device for acase where the illumination device is turned on, and the control screenfor the illumination device for a case where the illumination device isturned off. In FIG. 76, the upper diagram shows the display state of thebasic screen, the lower left diagram shows the display state of thecontrol screen for the illumination device for a case where theillumination device is turned on, and the lower right diagram shows thedisplay state of the control screen for the illumination device for acase where the illumination device is turned off.

With the basic screen (the upper diagram of FIG. 76) displayed on thedisplay 101, the user selects the device icon for the illuminationdevice in the room 10200 in which the illumination device is installed,and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection. At thistime, in the case where the illumination device in the room 10200 isturned on, the display control section 103 causes the display screen onthe display 101 to transition to a display state of the control screenfor the illumination device (the lower left diagram of FIG. 76) in whichthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device is displayedbrightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness.

On the other hand, with the basic screen (the upper diagram of FIG. 76)displayed on the display 101, the user selects the device icon for theillumination device in the room 10200 in which the illumination deviceis installed, and the touch panel control section 102 senses theselection. In the case where the illumination device in the room 10200is turned off at this time, the display control section 103 causes thedisplay screen on the display 101 to transition to a display state ofthe control screen for the illumination device (the lower right diagramof FIG. 76) in which the control target region 10101 for theillumination device is displayed darkly with brightness less than thespecific brightness.

Meanwhile, the control screen for the illumination device (the lowerleft diagram of FIG. 76), in which the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device is displayed brightly with brightness not lessthan the specific brightness, is displayed on the display 101 by thedisplay control section 103. In this display state, the user selects thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device, and the touchpanel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, the illuminationdevice in the room 10200 is turned off, and the display control section103 causes the display screen on the display 101 to transition to adisplay state of the control screen for the illumination device (thelower right diagram of FIG. 76), in which the control target region10101 for the illumination device is displayed darkly with brightnessless than the specific brightness.

On the other hand, the control screen for the illumination device (theright side in the lower row of FIG. 76), in which the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device is displayed darkly withbrightness less than the specific brightness, is displayed on thedisplay 101 by the display control section 103. In this display state,the user selects the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the illumination device in the room 10200 is turned on, and thedisplay control section 103 causes the display screen on the display 101to transition to a display state of the control screen for theillumination device (the left diagram in the lower row of FIG. 76), inwhich the control target region 10101 for the illumination device isdisplayed brightly with brightness not less than the specificbrightness.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 72 to 76, when the userselects the device icon 10201 for the illumination device, the floorplan 500 functions as the control screen 10100 for the illuminationdevice. This enables on/off control for the illumination device with anoperation screen for operating the illumination device not displayed onthe display 101. This eliminates the need for a step of the displaycontrol section 103 displaying an operation screen on the display 101separately from the floor plan 500, which prevents an increase in numberof process steps to be taken by the display control section 103 (thehome controller 100).

(Light Quantity Control for Illumination Devices)

FIG. 77 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay 101 in an example of light quantity increase control for theillumination device.

First, the control screen for the illumination device, in which thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device is displayeddarkly with brightness less than the specific brightness, is displayedon the display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 77). In this display state, the touch panel controlsection 102 senses that a contacting object 10600 contacts the controltarget region 10101 for the illumination device, and that the positionof contact between the contacting object 10600 and the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device moves upward (in the order ofthe upper left diagram, the upper right diagram, and the lower rightdiagram of FIG. 77) without the contacting object 10600 moving away fromthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device. At thistime, the display control section 103 increases the brightness of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay 101 (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upper rightdiagram, and the lower right diagram of FIG. 77) as the amount ofmovement increases. The contacting object 10600 is a finger of the user,for example.

Even in the case where the touch panel control section 102 senses thatthe position of contact between the contacting object 10600 and thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device moves out of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device (in the order ofthe lower right diagram and the lower left diagram of FIG. 77), thedisplay control section 103 further increases the brightness of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay 101 (in the order of the lower right diagram and the lower leftdiagram of FIG. 77) as the amount of movement increases.

Then, as the position of contact between the contacting object 10600 andthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device moves (thebrightness of the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice increases) (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upperright diagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower left diagram ofFIG. 77), the illumination device installed in the room 10200 (in theupper row of FIG. 76) corresponding to the control target region 10101for the illumination device is controlled such that its light quantityincreases.

FIG. 78 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay 101 in another example of light quantity increase control forthe illumination device.

First, the control screen for the illumination device, in which thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device is displayeddarkly with brightness less than the specific brightness, is displayedon the display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 78). In this display state, the touch panel controlsection 102 senses that a contacting object 10600 contacts the controltarget region 10101 for the illumination device, and that the positionof contact between the contacting object 10600 and the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device moves rightward (in the orderof the upper left diagram, the upper right diagram, and the lower rightdiagram of FIG. 78) without the contacting object 10600 moving away fromthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device. At thistime, the display control section 103 increases the brightness of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay 101 (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upper rightdiagram, and the lower right diagram of FIG. 78) as the amount ofmovement increases.

Even in the case where the touch panel control section 102 senses thatthe position of contact between the contacting object 10600 and thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device moves out of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device (in the order ofthe lower right diagram and the lower left diagram of FIG. 78), thedisplay control section 103 further increases the brightness of thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay 101 (in the order of the lower right diagram and the lower leftdiagram of FIG. 78) as the amount of movement increases.

Then, as the position of contact between the contacting object 10600 andthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device moves (thebrightness of the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice increases) (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upperright diagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower left diagram ofFIG. 78), the illumination device in the room 10200 (in the upper row ofFIG. 76) corresponding to the control target region 10101 for theillumination device is controlled such that its light quantityincreases.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 77 and 78, even in the casewhere the touch panel control section 102 senses that the position ofcontact between the contacting object 10600 and the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device moves out of the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device, the display control section103 increases the brightness of the control target region 10101 for theillumination device displayed on the display 101 as the amount ofmovement increases. Thus, a sufficient amount of movement can be securedeven in the case where the display size of the control target region10101 for the illumination device is small. As a result, the lightquantity control for the illumination device can be performed suitablyirrespective of the display size of the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device.

FIG. 79 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay 101 in an example of light quantity decrease control for theillumination device.

First, the control screen for the illumination device, in which thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device is displayedbrightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness, isdisplayed on the display 101 by the display control section 103 (theupper left diagram of FIG. 79). In this display state, the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses that a contacting object 10600 contacts thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device, and that theposition of contact between the contacting object 10600 and the controltarget region 10101 for the illumination device moves downward (in theorder of the upper left diagram, the upper right diagram, the lowerright diagram, and the lower left diagram of FIG. 79) without thecontacting object 10600 moving away from the control target region 10101for the illumination device. At this time, the display control section103 decreases the brightness of the control target region 10101 for theillumination device displayed on the display 101 (in the order of theupper left diagram, the upper right diagram, the lower right diagram,and the lower left diagram of FIG. 79) as the amount of movementincreases.

Then, as the position of contact between the contacting object 10600 andthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device moves (thebrightness of the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice decreases) (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upperright diagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower left diagram ofFIG. 79), the illumination device in the room 10200 (in the upper row ofFIG. 76) corresponding to the control target region 10101 for theillumination device is controlled such that its light quantitydecreases.

FIG. 80 is a diagram showing transition of the display screen on thedisplay 101 in another example of light quantity decrease control forthe illumination device.

First, the control screen for the illumination device, in which thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device is displayedbrightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness, isdisplayed on the display 101 by the display control section 103 (theupper left diagram of FIG. 80). In this display state, the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses that a contacting object 10600 contacts thecontrol target region 10101 for the illumination device, and that theposition of contact between the contacting object 10600 and the controltarget region 10101 for the illumination device moves leftward (in theorder of the upper left diagram, the upper right diagram, the lowerright diagram, and the lower left diagram of FIG. 80) without thecontacting object 10600 moving away from the control target region 10101for the illumination device. At this time, the display control section103 decreases the brightness of the control target region 10101 for theillumination device displayed on the display 101 (in the order of theupper left diagram, the upper right diagram, the lower right diagram,and the lower left diagram of FIG. 80) as the amount of movementincreases.

Then, as the position of contact between the contacting object 10600 andthe control target region 10101 for the illumination device moves (thebrightness of the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice decreases) (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upperright diagram, the lower right diagram, and the lower left diagram ofFIG. 80), the illumination device in the room 10200 (in the upper row ofFIG. 76) corresponding to the control target region 10101 for theillumination device is controlled such that its light quantitydecreases.

(Enlarged Control Screen)

FIG. 81 is a diagram showing another example of the control screen forthe illumination device displayed on the display 101 of the homecontroller 100. FIG. 82 is a diagram showing an example of transition ofthe display screen on the display 101 of the home controller 100 betweenthe basic screen and the control screen for the illumination device.

As shown in the left diagram of FIG. 82, the display control section 103displays the basic screen on the display 101 of the home controller 100.In this display state, the user selects a device icon 10203 for theillumination device disposed in a room 10202 in which the illuminationdevice is installed, and the touch panel control section 102 senses theselection. Then, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 82 or FIG. 81, aregion corresponding to the room 10202 is set as the control targetregion 10101 for the illumination device.

In addition, because the display size of the region corresponding to theroom 10202 is smaller than a predetermined display size, the displaycontrol section 103 displays, on the display 101, a control screen 11002for the illumination device (corresponding to an example of anadjustment screen according to an aspect of the present disclosure)including an enlarged screen 11001 for the room as superimposed on thefloor plan 500. The predetermined display size is set in advance, andmay be one-fourth the size of the display 101, for example.

Then, in the display state of the right diagram of FIG. 82 or FIG. 81,the user selects the device icon 10203 for the illumination device, orthe user selects a region of the floor plan 500 other than the controlscreen 11002 for the illumination device, and the touch panel controlsection 102 senses the selection. Then, the display control section 103returns the display screen on the display 101 to the display state ofthe basic screen shown in the left diagram of FIG. 82.

FIG. 83 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displaystate of the control screen for the illumination device displayed on thedisplay 101 along with on/off control for the illumination device.

In the left diagram of FIG. 83, the control screen 11002 for theillumination device including the enlarged screen 11001 for the room isdisplayed, in addition to the control target region 10101 for theillumination device, on the display 101 of the home controller 100 bythe display control section 103. Here, the display control section 103displays the control target region 10101 for the illumination device andthe enlarged screen 11001 for the room brightly with brightness not lessthan the specific brightness. That is, it is indicated that theillumination device in the room of the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device is turned on.

In the display state of the left diagram of FIG. 83, when contact of thecontacting object 10600 with the control screen 11002 for theillumination device is detected by the touch panel control section 102,the display control section 103 causes the display screen on the display101 to transition to the display state of the right diagram of FIG. 83.That is, the display control section 103 displays both the enlargedscreen 11001 for the room and the control target region 10101 for theillumination device darkly with brightness less than the specificbrightness. In addition, the illumination device installed in the roomcorresponding to the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice is turned off.

As described above using FIGS. 81 to 83, in the case where the displaysize of the region corresponding to the room 10202 in which theillumination device is installed (or the control target region 10101 forthe illumination device) is smaller than the predetermined display size,the display control section 103 displays the control screen 11002 forthe illumination device including the enlarged screen 11001 for the roomon the display 101 of the home controller 100. In the case where thedisplay size of the region corresponding to the room 10202 is small, itis considered that it may be difficult for the user to cause thecontacting object 10600 to adequately contact the region correspondingto the room 10202 (the control target region 10101 for the illuminationdevice). According to the embodiment, in contrast, the display controlsection 103 displays the control screen 11002 for the illuminationdevice including the enlarged screen 11001 for the room on the display101. This allows the user to suitably control on and off of theillumination device irrespective of the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room.

(Device Icon for Illumination Device Used in Common)

FIGS. 84 and 85 are each a diagram showing an example of transition ofthe display screen on the display 101 of the home controller 100 for acase where one device icon for the illumination device is commonly usedto control illumination devices in plural rooms. FIG. 84 shows anexample of transition for a case where the illumination device is to beturned off. FIG. 85 shows an example of transition for a case where theillumination device is to be turned on.

In FIG. 84, the display control section 103 displays the basic screen onthe display 101 of the home controller 100 (the upper left diagram ofFIG. 84). In this display state, the user selects a device icon 11301for the illumination device used in common using the contacting object10600, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the display control section 103 retracts the device icons, anddisplays the control screen 10100 for the illumination device on thedisplay 101 (the upper right diagram of FIG. 84).

The control screen 10100 for the illumination device shown in the upperright diagram of FIG. 84 includes a first control target region 11302for the illumination device and a second control target region 11303 forthe illumination device. As described using FIG. 72, the control screen10100 for the illumination device has the same display content as thatof the floor plan 500 (FIG. 72). As shown in the upper right diagram ofFIG. 84, the display control section 103 displays the first controltarget region 11302 for the illumination device and the second controltarget region 11303 for the illumination device brightly with brightnessnot less than the specific brightness. This indicates that theillumination devices in the respective corresponding rooms are turnedon.

With the control screen 10100 for the illumination device displayed onthe display 101 by the display control section 103, the user selects thefirst control target region 11302 for the illumination device using thecontacting object 10600, and the touch panel control section 102 sensesthe selection. Then, the illumination device in the corresponding roomis turned off, and the display control section 103 displays the firstcontrol target region 11302 for the illumination device darkly withbrightness less than the specific brightness (the lower right diagram ofFIG. 84).

Subsequently, the user selects the second control target region 11303for the illumination devices using the contacting object 10600, and thetouch panel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, theillumination device in the corresponding room is turned off, and thedisplay control section 103 displays the second control target region11303 for the illumination device darkly with brightness less than thespecific brightness (the lower left diagram of FIG. 84).

In FIG. 85, the display control section 103 displays the basic screen onthe display 101 of the home controller 100 (the upper left diagram ofFIG. 85). In this display state, the user selects a device icon 11301for the illumination device used in common using the contacting object10600, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the display control section 103 retracts the device icons, anddisplays the control screen 10100 for the illumination device on thedisplay 101 (the upper right diagram of FIG. 85).

As shown in the upper right diagram of FIG. 85, unlike the case of FIG.84, the display control section 103 displays the first control targetregion 11302 for the illumination device and the second control targetregion 11303 for the illumination device darkly with brightness lessthan the specific brightness. This indicates that the illuminationdevices in the respective corresponding rooms are turned off.

With the control screen 10100 for the illumination device displayed onthe display 101 by the display control section 103, the user selects thefirst control target region 11302 for the illumination device using thecontacting object 10600, and the touch panel control section 102 sensesthe selection. Then, the illumination device in the corresponding roomis turned on, and the display control section 103 displays the firstcontrol target region 11302 for the illumination device brightly withbrightness not less than the specific brightness (the lower rightdiagram of FIG. 85).

Subsequently, the user selects the second control target region 11303for the illumination devices using the contacting object 10600, and thetouch panel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, theillumination device in the corresponding room is turned on, and thedisplay control section 103 displays the second control target region11303 for the illumination device brightly with brightness not less thanthe specific brightness (the lower left diagram of FIG. 85).

As described above using FIGS. 84 and 85, the illumination devices intwo control target regions, namely the first control target region 11302for the illumination device and the second control target region 11303for the illumination device, can be controlled using the device icon11301 for the illumination device used in common. Thus, the number ofdevice icons for the illumination devices in the basic screen displayedon the display 101 can be reduced. As a result, complication of thebasic screen displayed on the display 101 due to a large number ofdevice icons can be avoided.

Although the device icon 11301 for the illumination device used incommon is commonly used to control illumination devices in two rooms inFIGS. 84 and 85, the home controller 100 according to the embodiment isnot limited thereto. For example, the device icon 11301 for theillumination device used in common may be commonly used to controlillumination devices in three or more rooms. In general, illuminationdevices are installed in all the rooms. Therefore, the device icon 11301for the illumination device used in common may be commonly used tocontrol the illumination devices in all the rooms.

Although the device icon 11301 for the illumination device used incommon is disposed in one of the rooms of the control targets in FIGS.84 and 85, the home controller 100 according to the embodiment is notlimited thereto.

FIG. 86 is a diagram showing another example of the arrangement of thedevice icon 11301 for the illumination device used in common. In FIG.86, the display control section 103 disposes the device icon 11301 forthe illumination device used in common outside the display region of thefloor plan 500. In particular, in the case where the device icon 11301for the illumination device used in common is commonly used to controlthe illumination devices in all the rooms, the display control section103 preferably disposes the device icon 11301 for the illuminationdevice used in common outside the display region of the floor plan 500as shown in FIG. 86. This arrangement indicates that the device icon11301 for the illumination device used in common is commonly used tocontrol the illumination devices in all the rooms rather than beinglimited to control for particular rooms.

Although the display control section 103 forms the device icon 11301 forthe illumination device used in common using an image that resembles anillumination device in FIGS. 84 to 86, the display control section 103may instead use an icon with a text “ILLUMINATION MODE”, for example.Then, the icon with the text “ILLUMINATION MODE” may be commonly used tocontrol the illumination devices in all the rooms. Use of the icon withthe text “ILLUMINATION MODE” indicates that the illumination devices inall the rooms can be controlled in the illumination mode.

(Control of Illumination Device in Staircase Region)

FIG. 87 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayed onthe display 101 of the home controller 100. The left diagram of FIG. 87shows a display state of the first floor of the basic screen. The rightdiagram of FIG. 87 shows a display state of the second floor of thebasic screen.

In the display state of the first floor of the basic screen, the displaycontrol section 103 displays the floor plan 601 for the first floor onthe display 101 as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 87. The floor plan601 for the first floor includes the staircase region 603. A device icon11601 for the illumination device in the staircase region on the firstfloor is disposed in the staircase region 603.

In the display state of the second floor of the basic screen, meanwhile,the display control section 103 displays the floor plan 602 for thesecond floor on the display 101 as shown in the right diagram of FIG.87. The floor plan 602 for the second floor includes the staircaseregion 604. A device icon 11602 for the illumination device in thestaircase region on the second floor is disposed in the staircase region604.

FIG. 88 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100, the transitionbeing made through on/off control for the illumination device using thedevice icon for the illumination device in the staircase region on thefirst floor.

The floor plan 601 for the first floor is displayed as the basic screenon the display 101 of the home controller 100 by the display controlsection 103 (the upper left diagram of FIG. 88). In this display state,the user selects the device icon 11601 for the illumination device inthe staircase region on the first floor using the contacting object10600, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the display control section 103 retracts the device icons 501, anddisplays the control screen 10100 for the illumination device on thedisplay 101 (the upper right diagram of FIG. 88).

As described using FIG. 72 etc., the control screen 10100 for theillumination device has the same display content as that of the floorplan 601 for the first floor. As shown in the upper right diagram ofFIG. 88, the display control section 103 displays the staircase region603 brightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness. Thisindicates that the illumination device at the staircase is turned on.

With the control screen 10100 for the illumination device displayed onthe display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper rightdiagram of FIG. 88), the user selects the staircase region 603 using thecontacting object 10600, and the touch panel control section 102 sensesthe selection. Then, the illumination device at the staircase is turnedoff, and the display control section 103 displays the staircase region603 darkly with brightness less than the specific brightness (the lowerright diagram of FIG. 88). Further, the user selects the staircaseregion 603 using the contacting object 10600, and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection. Then, the illumination deviceat the staircase is turned on, and the display control section 103displays the staircase region 603 brightly with brightness not less thanthe specific brightness (the lower left diagram of FIG. 88).

FIG. 89 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100, the transitionbeing made through on/off control for the illumination device using thedevice icon for the illumination device in the staircase region on thesecond floor.

The floor plan 602 for the second floor is displayed as the basic screenon the display 101 of the home controller 100 by the display controlsection 103 (the upper left diagram of FIG. 89). In this display state,the user selects the device icon 11602 for the illumination device inthe staircase region on the second floor using the contacting object10600, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the display control section 103 retracts the device icons 501, anddisplays the control screen 10100 for the illumination device on thedisplay 101 (the upper right diagram of FIG. 89).

As described using FIG. 72 etc., the control screen 10100 for theillumination device has the same display content as that of the floorplan 602 for the second floor. As shown in the upper right diagram ofFIG. 89, the display control section 103 displays the staircase region604 brightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness. Thisindicates that the illumination device at the staircase is turned on.

With the control screen 10100 for the illumination device displayed onthe display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper rightdiagram of FIG. 89), the user selects the staircase region 604 using thecontacting object 10600, and the touch panel control section 102 sensesthe selection. Then, the illumination device at the staircase is turnedoff, and the display control section 103 displays the staircase region604 darkly with brightness less than the specific brightness (the lowerright diagram of FIG. 89). Further, the user selects the staircaseregion 604 using the contacting object 10600, and the touch panelcontrol section 102 senses the selection. Then, the illumination deviceat the staircase is turned on, and the display control section 103displays the staircase region 604 brightly with brightness not less thanthe specific brightness (the lower left diagram of FIG. 89).

(Enlarged Control Screen for Staircase Region)

FIG. 90 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100 between the displaystate of the first floor of the basic screen and the display state ofthe control screen for the illumination device on the first floor. FIG.90 shows an example of a control screen for an illumination device thatis different from the control screen for the illumination device shownin FIGS. 88 and 89.

As shown in the left diagram of FIG. 90, the floor plan 601 for thefirst floor is displayed as the basic screen on the display 101 of thehome controller 100 by the display control section 103. In this displaystate, the user selects the device icon 11601 for the illuminationdevice in the staircase region on the first floor disposed in thestaircase region 603, and the touch panel control section 102 senses theselection. Then, the display control section 103 causes the displayscreen on the display 101 to transition to the display state shown inthe right diagram of FIG. 90. That is, the display control section 103retracts the device icons 501 out of the floor plan 601 for the firstfloor. In addition, the display control section 103 displays, on thedisplay 101, the control screen 11002 for the illumination device(corresponding to an example of the adjustment screen according to anaspect of the present disclosure) including an enlarged screen 11901 forthe staircase as superimposed on the floor plan 601 for the first floor.The display size of the control screen 11002 for the illumination deviceis larger than the display size of the staircase region 603.

In the display state of the right diagram of FIG. 90, meanwhile, theuser selects the device icon 11601 for the illumination device in thestaircase region on the first floor, or the user selects a region of thefloor plan 601 for the first floor other than the control screen 11002for the illumination device, and the touch panel control section 102senses the selection. Then, the display control section 103 causes thedisplay screen on the display 101 to transition to the display state ofthe basic screen shown in the left diagram of FIG. 90.

FIG. 91 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100, the transitionbeing made through light on/off control for the illumination deviceusing the enlarged control screen for the illumination device.

The floor plan 601 for the first floor is displayed as the basic screenon the display 101 of the home controller 100 by the display controlsection 103 (the upper left diagram of FIG. 91). In this display state,the user selects the device icon 11601 for the illumination device inthe staircase region on the first floor using the contacting object10600, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.Then, the display control section 103 retracts each device icon 501, anddisplays the control screen 11002 for the illumination device includingthe enlarged screen 11901 for the staircase on the display 101 (theupper right diagram of FIG. 91). As shown in the upper right diagram ofFIG. 91, the display control section 103 displays the enlarged screen11901 for the staircase and the staircase region 603 brightly withbrightness not less than the specific brightness. This indicates thatthe illumination device at the staircase is turned on.

With the control screen 11002 for the illumination device displayed onthe display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper rightdiagram of FIG. 91), the user selects the control screen 11002 for theillumination device using the contacting object 10600, and the touchpanel control section 102 senses the selection. Then, the illuminationdevice at the staircase is turned off, and the display control section103 displays the enlarged screen 11901 for the staircase and thestaircase region 603 darkly with brightness less than the specificbrightness (the lower right diagram of FIG. 91).

Further, the user selects the control screen 11002 for the illuminationdevice using the contacting object 10600, and the touch panel controlsection 102 senses the selection. Then, the illumination device at thestaircase is turned on, and the display control section 103 displays theenlarged screen 11901 for the staircase and the staircase region 603brightly with brightness not less than the specific brightness (thelower left diagram of FIG. 91).

FIG. 92 is a diagram showing an example of transition of the displayscreen on the display 101 of the home controller 100, the transitionbeing made through light quantity control for the illumination deviceusing the enlarged control screen for the illumination device.

First, the control screen 11002 for the illumination device is displayedon the display 101 by the display control section 103 (the upper leftdiagram of FIG. 92) with the enlarged screen 11901 for the staircase andthe staircase region 603 displayed darkly with brightness less than thespecific brightness. In this display state, the touch panel controlsection 102 senses that a contacting object 10600 contacts the controlscreen 11002 for the illumination device, and that the position ofcontact between the contacting object 10600 and the control screen 11002for the illumination device moves upward (in the order of the upper leftdiagram, the upper right diagram, and the lower right diagram of FIG.92) without the contacting object 10600 moving away from the controltarget region 11002 for the illumination device. At this time, thedisplay control section 103 increases the brightness of the enlargedscreen 11901 for the staircase and the staircase region 603 displayed onthe display 101 (in the order of the upper left diagram, the upper rightdiagram, and the lower right diagram of FIG. 92) as the amount ofmovement increases.

Even in the case where the touch panel control section 102 senses thatthe position of contact between the contacting object 10600 and thecontrol screen 11002 for the illumination device moves out of thecontrol screen 11002 for the illumination device (in the order of thelower right diagram and the lower left diagram of FIG. 92), the displaycontrol section 103 further increases the brightness of the enlargedscreen 11901 for the staircase and the staircase region 603 displayed onthe display 101 (in the order of the lower right diagram and the lowerleft diagram of FIG. 92) as the amount of movement increases.

As the position of contact between the contacting object 10600 and thecontrol screen 11002 for the illumination device moves (the brightnessof the control screen 11002 for the illumination device increases), theillumination device at the staircase 603 corresponding to the controlscreen 11002 for the illumination device is controlled such that itslight quantity increases.

(Control Flow for Illumination Device)

FIGS. 93A and 93B are each a flowchart showing the flow of a process forthe home controller 100 to control the illumination device.

S12201 to S12203 are substantially the same as S3501 to S3505 in FIG.39A, respectively. That is, the touch panel control section 102 sensesthat the device icon for the illumination device is selected by the useron the basic screen (S12201). Next, the display control section 103retracts all the device icons 501 out of the display region of thecontrol screen (S12202). Next, the display control section 103 adjuststhe display positions of the retracted device icons 501 (S12203).

Although S3504 following S3503 is executed in FIG. 39A, no stepcorresponding to S3504 is executed in FIG. 93A. This is because thedevice icon for the illumination device is selected in S12201 of FIG.93A, and the control screen for the illumination device inevitably usesa floor plan rather than a dedicated screen, and therefore there is noneed for a process corresponding to S3504 in which a discrimination ismade as to whether the control screen is a dedicated screen or a floorplan.

Subsequently to S12203, it is discriminated whether or not the displaysize of the region corresponding to the room, in which the device iconfor the illumination device selected in S12201 is disposed, is not morethan a specific display size (S12204). If the display size of the regioncorresponding to the room is not more than the specific display size(YES in S12204), the display control section 103 displays the controlscreen 11002 for the illumination device along with the enlarged screen11001 for the room on the display 101 (S12205), and the process isadvanced to S12207. If the display size of the region corresponding tothe room exceeds the specific display size (NO in S12204), on the otherhand, the display control section 103 displays the floor plan 500 as thecontrol screen 10100 for the illumination device (S12206), and theprocess is advanced to S12207.

If the touch panel control section 102 senses start of contact of thecontacting object 10600 with the display 101 in S12207, the touch panelcontrol section 102 determines whether or not the contact target is thedevice icon 501 (S12208).

If it is determined that the device icon 501 is contacted (YES inS12208), the touch panel control section 102 determines whether or notthe contacting object 10600 contacts the same device icon as the deviceicon for the illumination device selected in S12201 (S12209). If thecontacting object 10600 does not contact the same device icon (NO inS12209), the process returns to S12203. In the case where it isdetermined that the contacting object 10600 contacts the same deviceicon as the device icon for the illumination device selected in S12201(YES in S12209), on the other hand, the display control section 103hides the control screen for the illumination device and displays thebasic screen on the display 101 (S12212). The flow is thus terminated.

In the case where the touch panel control section 102 determines inS12208 that the device icon 501 is not contacted (NO in S12208),meanwhile, the touch panel control section 102 further determineswhether or not the contact target is the control screen for theillumination device (S12210). In the case where it is determined thatthe contact target is not the control screen for the illumination device(NO in S12210), the process is advanced to S12212.

If the touch panel control section 102 determines that the contactingobject contacts a button or the like within the control screen for theillumination device (YES in S12210), on the other hand, the process isadvanced to the control flow for the illumination device (FIG. 94)(S12211), and thereafter the process returns to S12207.

FIG. 94 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller 100 to generate a control command for the illumination devicein accordance with the content of a contact of the contacting object10600.

First, the touch panel control section 102 discriminates whether or nota contact of the contacting object 10600 is sensed within the controltarget region for the illumination device on the floor plan (that is,the control screen for the illumination device) (S12301). If a contactof the contacting object 10600 is not sensed within the control targetregion for the illumination device (NO in S12301), the touch panelcontrol section 102 discriminates whether or not a contact of thecontacting object 10600 is sensed within the enlarged screen for theroom (S12304). If a contact of the contacting object 10600 is also notsensed within the enlarged screen for the room (NO in S12304), the flowis terminated.

If the touch panel control section 102 senses a contact of thecontacting object 10600 within the control target region for theillumination device in S12301 on the other hand (YES in S12301), theprocess is advanced to S12302. If the touch panel control section 102senses a contact of the contacting object 10600 within the enlargedscreen for the room in S12304 (YES in S12304), meanwhile, the process isadvanced to S12302.

In S12302, the touch panel control section 102 discriminates whether ornot movement of the contacting object 10600 in the contacting state issensed. If movement of the contacting object 10600 is not sensed (NO inS12302), the process is advanced to S12303. If movement of thecontacting object 10600 is sensed (YES in S12302), the touch panelcontrol section 102 discriminates the moving direction of the contactingobject 10600 (S12305). If the moving direction of the contacting object10600 is the upward direction, the process is advanced to S12306. If themoving direction of the contacting object 10600 is the downwarddirection, the process is advanced to S12307.

In S12303, the device control section 106 decides on control to switchbetween on and off of the illumination device, and the process isadvanced to S12308. In S12306, the device control section 106 decides oncontrol to increase the light quantity in accordance with the amount ofmovement of the contacting object 10600, and the process is advanced toS12308. In S12307, the device control section 106 decides on control todecrease the light quantity in accordance with the amount of movement ofthe contacting object 10600, and the process is advanced to S12308.

In S12308, the device control section 106 generates a control commandcorresponding to the decided control. In the embodiment, a controlcommand corresponding to control to switch between on and off of theillumination device decided in S12303 corresponds to an example of thefirst control command and the on/off control command according to anaspect of the present disclosure, a control command corresponding tocontrol to switch the illumination device from off to on decided inS12303 corresponds to an example of the on control command according toan aspect of the present disclosure, and a control command correspondingto control to switch the illumination device from on to off decided inS12303 corresponds to an example of the off control command according toan aspect of the present disclosure. In addition, a control commandcorresponding to control to increase the light quantity in accordancewith the amount of movement of the contacting object 10600 decided inS12306 and a control command corresponding to control to decrease thelight quantity in accordance with the amount of movement of thecontacting object 10600 decided in S12307 correspond to an example ofthe second control command according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure.

Then, the process is advanced to a control command transmission flow(S12309). Subsequently, the display control section 103 updates thescreen display on the display 101 in accordance with the control commandgenerated in S12308 (S12310). The flow is thus terminated.

The control command transmission flow in S12309 is executed with aprocess flow that is similar to the flowchart of FIG. 41, for example.The device serving as the control command transmission destination inS3702 and S3703 of FIG. 41 corresponds to the illumination devicecorresponding to the selected device icon for the illumination device inthe control for the illumination device. The devices to be operatedconcurrently in S3706 of FIG. 41 correspond to illumination devices inplural rooms corresponding to the device icon for the illuminationdevice used in common, for example, in the control for the illuminationdevice.

FIG. 95 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller 100 to directly control the illumination device in the casewhere the home controller 100 controls plural illumination devices withone operation. Here, a case where the home controller 100 controls theillumination device A 200 and the illumination device B 200 is describedas an example.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the control screen 10100 for the illuminationdevice (S4101). Next, the device control section 106 of the homecontroller 100 generates a control command according to the useroperation, and transmits the control command to the illumination deviceA 200 (S4102).

The illumination device A 200 which has received the control commandexecutes the control command (S4103), and transmits the control resultto the home controller 100 (S4104).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100transmits to the illumination device B 200 a control command that is thesame as the control command transmitted to the illumination device A 200(S4105). The illumination device B 200 which has received the controlcommand executes the control command (S4106), and transmits the controlresult to the home controller 100 (S4107).

The display control section 103 of the home controller 100 which hasreceived the control result updates the display screen in accordancewith the control result (S4108). In this case, for example, if thecontrol screens 10100 for the illumination devices A 200 and B 200 aredisplayed on the display 101, the content of the control screens 10100for the illumination devices A 200 and B 200 is updated in accordancewith the control result.

FIG. 96 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller 100 to control illumination devices by way of the server 300in the case where the home controller 100 controls plural illuminationdevices with one operation. Here, a case where the home controller 100controls the illumination device A 200 and the illumination device B 200is described as an example. In addition, it is assumed that theillumination devices A 200 and B 200 are represented by one device icon10201 for the illumination device, and are controlled using one controlscreen 10100 for the illumination device.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the control screen 10100 for the illuminationdevice (S4201).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the illumination device A 200 accordingto the user operation, and transmits the control command to the server300 (S4202).

The server 300 which has received the control command for theillumination device A 200 transmits the control command to theillumination device A 200 (S4203). The illumination device A 200 whichhas received the control command executes the control command (S4204),and transmits the control result to the server 300 (S4205). The server300 which has received the control result transmits the control resultto the home controller 100 (S4206).

Similarly, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the illumination device B 200 accordingto the user operation, and transmits the control command to the server300 (S4207).

The server 300 which has received the control command transmits thecontrol command to the illumination device B 200 (S4208). Theillumination device B 200 which has received the control commandexecutes the control command (S4209), and transmits the control resultto the server 300 (S4210). The server 300 which has received the controlresult transmits the control result to the home controller 100 (S4211).

Then, the display control section 103 of the home controller 100 updatesthe display screen in accordance with the control result (S4212).

FIG. 97 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of a process for the homecontroller 100 to control illumination devices by way of the server 300in the case where the home controller 100 controls plural illuminationdevices with one operation. Here, a case where the home controller 100controls the illumination device A 200 and the illumination device B 200is described as an example. In addition, it is assumed that theillumination devices A 200 and B 200 are represented by one device icon10201 for the illumination device, and are controlled using one controlscreen 10100 for the illumination device.

First, the touch panel control section 102 of the home controller 100senses a user operation on the control screen 10100 for the illuminationdevice (S4301).

Next, the device control section 106 of the home controller 100generates a control command for the illumination device A 200 and theillumination device B 200 in accordance with the user operation, andtransmits the control command to the server 300 (S4302).

The server 300 which has received the control command transmits thecontrol command to the illumination device A 200 (S4303). Theillumination device A 200 which has received the control commandexecutes the control command (S4304), and transmits the control resultto the server 300 (S4305).

Similarly, the server 300 transmits the control command to theillumination device B 200 (S4306). The illumination device B 200 whichhas received the control command executes the control command (S4307),and transmits the control result to the server 300 (S4308). The server300 which has received the control result for the illumination device A200 and the illumination device B 200 transmits the control result tothe home controller 100 (S4309).

Then, the display control section 103 of the home controller 100 updatesthe display screen in accordance with the control result (S4310).

(Control for Illumination Device for Case where Floor Plan in OtherPatterns is Used)

FIG. 98 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayed onthe display 101 of the home controller 100 in the case where the floorplan described with reference to FIG. 52 is used. FIG. 99 is a diagramshowing an example of the control screen for the illumination devicedisplayed on the display 101 in the case where the device icon for theillumination device is selected on the basic screen shown in FIG. 98.

As shown in FIG. 98, the display control section 103 displays the basicscreen including the floor plan 5200, the device icons 501, and so forthon the display 101 of the home controller 100. In this display state,the user selects a device icon 10201 for the illumination devicedisposed in a living room 9801 in which the illumination device isinstalled, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.At this time, as shown in FIG. 99, the display control section 103retracts all the device icons 501 including the device icon 10201 forthe illumination device out of the display region of the floor plan5200, and displays the control screen 10100 for the illumination deviceincluding the control target region 10101 for the illumination device onthe display 101.

As shown in FIG. 99, the floor plan 5200 and the control screen 10100for the illumination device have the same display content as each otheras in the case of the floor plan 500 described with reference to FIGS.72 to 74. In other words, when the user selects the device icon 10201for the illumination device, the floor plan 5200 also functions as thecontrol screen 10100 for the illumination device.

FIG. 100 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayedon the display 101 of the home controller 100 in the case where thefloor plan described with reference to FIG. 56 is used. FIG. 101 is adiagram showing an example of the control screen for the illuminationdevice displayed on the display 101 in the case where the device iconfor the illumination device is selected on the basic screen shown inFIG. 100.

As shown in FIG. 100, the display control section 103 displays the basicscreen including the floor plan 5600, the device icons 501, and so forthon the display 101 of the home controller 100. In this display state,the user selects a device icon 10201 for the illumination devicedisposed in a living room 9802 in which the illumination device isinstalled, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.At this time, as shown in FIG. 101, the display control section 103retracts all the device icons 501 including the device icon 10201 forthe illumination device out of the display region of the floor plan5600, and displays the control screen 10100 for the illumination deviceincluding the control target region 10101 for the illumination device onthe display 101.

As shown in FIG. 101, the floor plan 5600 and the control screen 10100for the illumination device have the same display content as each otheras in the case of the floor plan 500 described with reference to FIGS.72 to 74. In other words, when the user selects the device icon 10201for the illumination device, the floor plan 5600 also functions as thecontrol screen 10100 for the illumination device.

FIG. 102 is a diagram showing an example of the basic screen displayedon the display 101 of the home controller 100 in the case where thefloor plan described with reference to FIG. 59 is used. FIG. 103 is adiagram showing an example of the control screen for the illuminationdevice displayed on the display 101 in the case where the device iconfor the illumination device is selected on the basic screen shown inFIG. 102.

As shown in FIG. 102, the display control section 103 displays the basicscreen including the floor plan 5900, the device icons 501, and so forthon the display 101 of the home controller 100. In this display state,the user selects a device icon 10201 for the illumination devicedisposed in a living room 9803 in which the illumination device isinstalled, and the touch panel control section 102 senses the selection.At this time, as shown in FIG. 103, the display control section 103retracts all the device icons 501 including the device icon 10201 forthe illumination device out of the display region of the floor plan5900, and displays the control screen 10100 for the illumination deviceincluding the control target region 10101 for the illumination device onthe display 101.

As shown in FIG. 103, the floor plan 5900 and the control screen 10100for the illumination device have the same display content as each otheras in the case of the floor plan 500 described with reference to FIGS.72 to 74. In other words, when the user selects the device icon 10201for the illumination device, the floor plan 5900 also functions as thecontrol screen 10100 for the illumination device.

Then, also in the case of the floor plans 5200, 5600, and 5900 withpatterns that are different from that of the floor plan 500, with thecontrol screen 10100 for the illumination device shown in FIGS. 99, 101,and 103, respectively, displayed, the illumination device is controlledas in the case of the floor plan 500. For example, as described withreference to FIGS. 84 to 86, the device icon 10201 for the illuminationdevice may be used in common to plural rooms.

FIG. 104 is a diagram showing an example in which the device icon 11301for the illumination device used in common is disposed outside thedisplay region of the floor plan 5200. In general, illumination devicesare installed in all the rooms. Thus, as shown in FIG. 104, the homecontroller 100 may dispose the device icon 11301 for the illuminationdevice used in common outside the display region of the floor plan 5200,and may use the device icon 11301 for the illumination device used incommon to all the rooms in common.

In the case where there is a room in which plural illumination devicesare installed, only one device icon 501 for the illumination device maybe disposed in the basic screen in the left diagram of FIG. 73, forexample, rather than disposing the device icons 501 for pluralillumination devices. In this case, the one device icon 501 for theillumination device represents plural illumination devices. Then, theplural illumination devices can be controlled at the same time inaccordance with the process of FIG. 95, 96, or 97, for example, byselecting the device icon 501 for the illumination device whichrepresents the plural illumination devices. That is, one or moreillumination devices can be controlled through one operation.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present disclosure provides a useful control method of suitablycontrolling one or more illumination devices connected to a network.

What is claimed is:
 1. A control method for an information apparatushaving a display and connected to a network, at least one target devicebeing controlled over the network, the control method causing a computerof the information apparatus to: display a display screen on thedisplay, the display screen representing a floor plan for one floorincluding at least two rooms; display at least one device icon withindisplay regions of the at least two rooms included in the floor plan,wherein each of the at least one device icon represents one of the atleast one target device, the at least one target device including anillumination device, at least one of the at least two rooms including atleast one illumination device; determine whether or not an illuminationicon is selected from the at least one device icon in the floor plan,wherein the illumination icon is a device icon representing theillumination device; determine whether or not a display region isselected from the display regions of the at least two rooms included inthe floor plan, wherein the display region represents one room of the atleast two rooms included in the floor plan, wherein the selectedillumination icon is included within the selected display region of theone room when the illumination icon is selected; when it is determinedthat the illumination icon is selected and determined that the displayregion of the one room is selected, output a first control command tothe network, the first control command controlling on/off of power forthe illumination device in the one room corresponding to the selecteddisplay region.
 2. The control method according to claim 1, wherein whentwo or more illumination devices are installed in the one roomcorresponding to the selected display region, the first control commandcontrols on/off of power for the two or more illumination devicesinstalled in the one room corresponding to the selected display region.3. The control method according to claim 1, wherein when it isdetermined that the illumination icon is selected, the illumination iconis moved to a location outside the display region of the one room. 4.The control method according to claim 1, wherein when it is determinedthat the illumination icon is selected, the illumination icon is movedto a location outside a display region of the display screenrepresenting the floor plan.
 5. The control method according to claim 1,wherein when power for the illumination device is turned on, theselected display region on the display screen corresponding to the oneroom, is displayed brightly with not less than specific brightness. 6.The control method according to claim 5, wherein when power for theillumination device is turned off, the selected display region on thedisplay screen corresponding to the one room, is displayed darkly withless than the specific brightness.
 7. The control method according toclaim 1, wherein the display is a touch panel display, and the selectionof the illumination icon, or the selection of the display region of theone room, is determined by a contact with the touch panel display. 8.The control method according to claim 1, wherein the selection of theillumination icon, or the selection of the display region of the oneroom, is determined by a click with a mouse pointer.
 9. The controlmethod according to claim 1, wherein the display is a touch paneldisplay, and a second control command is output to the network, when acontact with the display is determined in the selected display region ofthe one room, in which the selection of the illumination icon isdetermined, and when continuous movement of the contact with the displayon the display screen is determined, the second control command varyinga light quantity of the illumination device in accordance with an amountof the movement.
 10. The control method according to claim 9, whereinwhen the continuous movement of the contact with the display isdetermined, the continuous movement from inside of the selected displayregion of the one room, in which the selection of the illumination iconis determined, to outside of the selected display region of the oneroom, the second control command corresponding to the amount of themovement including an amount of the continuous movement to outside ofthe selected display region of the one room, in which the selection ofthe illumination icon is determined, is output to the network.
 11. Thecontrol method according to claim 9, wherein the second control commandcauses the light quantity of the illumination device to increase as theamount of the movement is larger.
 12. The control method according toclaim 1, wherein the display is a touch panel display, and a secondcontrol command is output to the network, when a contact with thedisplay is determined in the selected display region of the one room, inwhich the selection of the illumination icon is determined, and whencontinuous movement of the contact with the display on the displayscreen is determined, the second control command varying a lightquantity of the illumination device in accordance with a direction ofthe movement.
 13. The control method according to claim 12, wherein whencontinuous movement of the contact with the display is determined, thecontinuous movement from inside of the selected display region of theone room, in which the selection of the illumination icon is determined,to outside of the selected display region of the one room, the secondcontrol command corresponding to the direction of the continuousmovement including the direction of the movement to outside of theselected display region of the one room, in which the selection of theillumination icon is determined, is output to the network.
 14. Thecontrol method according to claim 12, wherein the second control commandcauses the light quantity of the illumination device to increase whenthe direction of the movement is upward on the display screen.
 15. Thecontrol method according to claim 14, wherein the second control commandcauses the light quantity of the illumination device to decrease whenthe direction of the movement is downward on the display screen.
 16. Thecontrol method according to claim 1, wherein the display is a touchpanel display, an adjustment screen is displayed when a display size ofthe selected display region of the one room, in which the selection ofthe illumination icon is determined, is smaller than a predetermineddisplay size, the adjustment screen being used for adjusting a lightquantity of the illumination device corresponding to the one room, inwhich the selection of the illumination icon is determined, and a secondcontrol command is output to the network, when movement of the contactwith the display on the adjustment screen is determined, the secondcontrol command varying the light quantity of the illumination device inaccordance with an amount of the movement.
 17. The control methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the display is a touch panel display, anadjustment screen is displayed when a display size of the selecteddisplay region of the one room, in which the selection of theillumination icon is determined, is smaller than a predetermined displaysize, the adjustment screen being used for adjusting a light quantity ofthe illumination device corresponding to the one room, in which theselection of the illumination icon is determined, and a second controlcommand is output to the network, when movement of the contact with thedisplay on the adjustment screen is determined, the second controlcommand varying the light quantity of the illumination device inaccordance with a direction of the movement.
 18. The control methodaccording to claim 16, wherein the adjustment screen has a display sizelarger than the display size of the selected display region of the oneroom, in which the selection of the illumination icon is determined. 19.The control method according to claim 1, wherein a control screen isdisplayed on the display screen, when selection of a second device iconrepresenting a second target device other than the illumination deviceis determined, the control screen being used for operating, orconfirming a state of, the target device corresponding to the selecteddevice icon.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumwhich stores a program to be executed by an information apparatus havinga display and being connected to a network, at least one target devicebeing controlled over the network, the program causing a computer of theinformation apparatus to: display a display screen on the display, thedisplay screen representing a floor plan for one floor including atleast two rooms; display at least one device icon within display regionsof the at least two rooms included in the floor plan, wherein each ofthe at least one device icon represents one of the at least one targetdevice, the at least one target device including an illumination device,at least one of the at least two rooms including at least oneillumination device; determine whether or not an illumination icon isselected from the at least one device icon in the floor plan, whereinthe illumination icon is a device icon representing the illuminationdevice; determine whether or not a display region is selected from thedisplay regions of the at least two rooms included in the floor plan,wherein the display region represents one room of the at least two roomsincluded in the floor plan, wherein the selected illumination icon isincluded within the selected display region of the one room when theillumination icon is selected; when it is determined that theillumination icon is selected and determined that the display region ofthe one room is selected, output a first control command to the network,the first control command controlling on/off of power for theillumination device in the one room corresponding to the selecteddisplay region.